Reise zu Reinkarnation
by Kirishtu
Summary: One step forward, two steps back. Sasuke's finally within arm's reach, but with his return comes a myriad of disasters.
1. Chapter 1

Originally posted on aff 2008-07-16 - 2009-03-08

I

Sunlight flashed by in tiny holes that led up to the earth's surface, letting in air to keep the dingy tunnels fresh. Not like it mattered, since the tunnels were so small it was hard to circulate the air, let alone breathe. If it weren't for the specially designed ANBU masks, they would more than likely suffocate. But since they had the masks – a godsend gift from Suna; they really needed to thank Gaara for them – that wasn't a problem. The masks were specially designed to allow the wearer to breathe while traveling through a stinging sandstorm – or claustrophobia causing tunnels – without having the throat close and the lungs seize. A really wonderful achievement they were.

So, wearing those masks, Naruto, Sakura, Neji, and Hinata made their way down the dark and dank tunnels of Orochimaru's latest – and hopefully last – hideout. They and others had been systematically locating, searching, and destroying Orochimaru's hideouts in search of the man or his cohorts. For Naruto, he didn't care beyond finding Sasuke. If they found someone else, cool, but he wanted to find Sasuke. He needed to make sure Sasuke was all right and most of all himself. He couldn't be dead because Orochimaru needed his body – the bastard – and Sasuke had a will to live because he wanted revenge. But every empty hide-out and safe house was a grim reminder that they were running out of time and even as strong as they had become none of them could match Sasuke let alone Orochimaru. And if the snake-bastard had actually succeeded…

Naruto shook his head and dodged a root, taking a quick left with Hinata as Neji and Sakura went right. There were too many chambers to check one at a time, so Naruto and Sakura were relying on the Hyuuga cousins' Byakugan to find any trace of chakra signatures. Those signatures would then be hunted and detained until they could be transported back to the surface and to the waiting arms of hunter nin. They'd all been met with disappointment with all the empty bases, but this time, they might just strike gold. Naruto hid his wince as Hinata's open palm slammed into his chest. Even armoured and padded, being hit by a Hyuuga – even gentle Hinata – hurt like a bitch. Hinata, for her part, actually had the decency to apologize. Neji would've snorted and Naruto probably would've gone complaining to Gaara and Neji wouldn't speak to Naruto for two months. The blonde had done that before, gone and told Gaara Neji was abusing him. Which Neji had, in a sort of weird way. Naruto had only just been promoted to jounin rank and as sort of a joke the other jounin had made him pack mule when they went off to play jounin hide-and-seek. Neji had taken the joke too far and had literally made Naruto his personal slave. So Naruto had gone to Gaara and either because he needed a good reason to keep Neji away from Konoha or because he was tired of hearing Naruto whine to him, Gaara had taken custody of Neji and made him limp for two weeks. Neji hadn't spoken to Naruto for a month. He'd gotten over it, at the behest of Hinata and severe promising from Naruto he'd never ever do such a thing again.

Naruto clearly remembered Neji's first words and shuddered. He certainly didn't like the idea of having sand in his pants, let alone ant lions. When he dropped back in reality, he realized Hinata had been speaking to him.

"Huh?" Oh, that sounded so dumb. Good work, Naruto. Hinata giggled softly.

"I said, Naruto-kun, that there's a chakra signature coming from a tunnel ahead and to the left."

"All right." Naruto replied. He shifted to flip on his radio collar, putting the mike under his mask, close to his mouth. "Sakura, we have a signature. Anything on your side?"

"Just dead bodies," Sakura's crackling voice answered. "We're coming back. Neji-kun has your position. Go ahead and engage and we'll back you up."

Naruto flicked a glance to Hinata and signaled her. She nodded and began to creep forward, Naruto following as he switched off his radio-collar, sighing silently as he felt Kyuubi lend him his sense. As fast as Hinata was, no one could match Naruto's speed when Kyuubi melded their chakra. Even Kakashi had trouble following him with his Sharingan. Still, Hinata led the way down the tunnel, only trading places when Naruto when they reached the concealed door. Naruto pulled out a thin wire and needle and set about finding the lock. He'd practiced these past few years on the jutsu he sucked at, and had managed to get Shizune to teach him how to pick locks rather than waste the chakra. That skill came in handy when he snuck into Iruka-sensei's apartment to make sure the man still breathed when he came home from a mission. Many of Iruka's old students did that, Naruto had found out: Ino, Hinata, Kiba, and Shikamaru to name a few. And then there was Kakashi, who checked on Iruka every couple of hours if he didn't see him at the academy or missions office. Naruto made a face behind his mask as the wire slipped into the lock and secured it with the needle. He hadn't known his former sensei and his "big brother" had been screwing each other. Or rather, Kakashi had been 'making love' to Iruka. Naruto never really understood the difference, but Iruka had begged him not to stab Kakashi to death so he hadn't. They were in love, happy, so when Naruto saw Pakkun or the other nin dogs sitting in the window or by the front and back doors, he knew to stay away. He figured after that incident, the dogs had been given permission to tear him apart if he came within five feet Of Iruka's apartment. Not that Kakashi was that obsessively possessive all the time – he was a jounin, and therefore understood the need to make sure your loved ones still breathed – so he allowed Naruto to invade Iruka's apartment on nights all three were in residence and they shared a nice miso ramen dinner after Naruto had completed his rounds.

The lock clicked. Naruto tested the door for traps and pushed. He went in first, low and fast – because projectiles were generally aimed high – and Hinata darted in behind him. They kept low, eyes adjusting to the dimness of the chamber. Naruto could smell earth and blood and then a scent hit him that was both so familiar and foreign and when his brain caught up with his nose, his ears registered Hinata's soft intake of breath and his eyes widened at the sight of the brunette man huddled in the far corner of the room, forehead on his knees, arms wrapped around his legs.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed. The man twitched, raised his head, and wonderfully dark eyes peered through the dimness at the ANBU pair. Lips curled in a nervous smile and Sasuke shifted back into his corner, whispering something about ghosts finally coming to kill him. Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other and then back at Sasuke, pulling their masks off and coming toward him, careful to keep their hands away from their weapons.

When desperate, a person was bound to do anything that guaranteed survival, no matter how little the chance actually was.

And Sasuke had plenty of reasons to be desperate to survive.

Still, he didn't bolt or draw a weapon as Naruto and Hinata came closer, watching them like a cornered rabbit. Naruto didn't quite understand his behaviour, but took it as a blessing and signed to Hinata to follow his lead. He bent down in front of Sasuke and offered his hand to the brunette, watching the dark eyes fill with apprehension. And was that maybe a hint of fear?

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto began, "want to go home?"

"Home?" Sasuke whispered. "I don't have a home. Not anymore. Not since–" He broke off, lips drawing into a thin line. He drew back and glared suspicion at the two of them. Naruto only smiled and crouched, still offering his hand.

"Then come back with me. I'll make sure you won't get hurt."

Sasuke's right hand flexed, then curled into a fist. Naruto saw Hinata tense in response, fearing an attack. Sasuke flicked a glance at the Hyuuga girl before he centered his attention on Naruto again.

"Promise?"

Oh god, the word sounded like it came from a child and not a man who'd been missing for six years. Naruto didn't know what to make of it. Not then. He'd come to regret not knowing in a few short hours.

"Promise." Naruto replied and Sasuke shifted, uncurling and taking Naruto's hand. Naruto helped Sasuke stand, eyes going wide at the sight of his former friend portrayed. Naruto could count his ribs, see his hipbones, shadows lending their aid to enhance the Uchiha's gauntness. But even his emaciation didn't compare to his eyes, dark and haunted – and ancient, Naruto realized upon closer scrutiny – staring at the world around him with an almost jaded gaze. It didn't suit Sasuke at all. Or rather, Naruto mused, his own vision of Sasuke. Wasn't that why he fell so easily into Orochimaru's trap? Naruto felt Sasuke's grip tighten around his hand and pulled the brunette close. Sasuke's head tucked itself beneath his chin and Naruto let out a breath of relief. Neither of them was going to die here, and – though he knew it was stupid – Naruto discovered he was indeed about half a head taller than the brunette.

"Let's go, hm?" Naruto whispered as he gestured for Hinata to lead the way. Sasuke made a noise and let Naruto pull him out of the hidden chamber into the dank halls of the hideout. They traveled in relative silence, with Hinata speaking softly into her own radio-collar, directing Sakura and Neji to meet them above ground. Sasuke held tight to Naruto's hand the entire time. It seemed sad to Naruto, how the great Uchiha Sasuke was clinging to his hand like a lost waif. If Naruto didn't understand that the action was out of some fear, he probably would've laughed.

The entrance tunnel was just ahead and morning light could be seen when Sasuke dug in his heels and refused to budge. Naruto shook his head when Hinata opened her mouth and told her to go on ahead, they'd be along in a moment.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, and the brunette stared at him through long dirty bangs.

"They don't want to go up there," Sasuke whispered. Naruto blinked at the sound of the wrong personal pronoun. He brushed it off, though. Another thing he'd regret later.

"It's okay," Naruto said. "I promised I wouldn't let you get hurt, didn't I?"

Sasuke gave a bit of a hesitant smile. "Un."

"So you'll be fine. Ready?"

Sasuke shook his head but followed Naruto anyway when the blonde moved for the entrance. Light blinded the pair for a few moments and in those moments, Naruto felt Sasuke's grip on his hand tighten and then tear away, and his eyes adjusted immediately with Kyuubi's help. Sasuke was struggling against eight of the ten hunter-nin that had accompanied them to this den, the remaining two on the ground. Blood was spurting from one's neck and the other was desperately trying to stop it. Sasuke's right hand was covered in red. By himself, in a fair fight, Naruto knew Sasuke could take down an ANBU, but against eight he was soon subdued, bound in tight chakra-depleting rope and tossed unceremoniously to the hard ground. Neji was holding tight to Sakura's wrist and Hinata was doing her best to try and calm the rose-haired young woman. Naruto felt sick to his stomach as he watched the hunter-nin pull Sasuke up, watched fist after fist descend to make the Uchiha bleed for killing a comrade of theirs.

"Enough!" Naruto growled, weaving chakra into his words to make them a barking order; even if the hunter-nin outranked him, no one in their right minds would tangle with Kyuubi, even if Naruto housed him at the moment. The movements stopped, but what wounded Naruto's heart the most was the blank stare that Sasuke gave him, the culmination of broken promises mixed with some unseen terror, all rolled up into one begging, pleading gaze to just tell them to let –go– and leave him alone. Instead, Naruto looked away, sighed, and turned back to the hunter-nin and their captive with his best apathetic jounin stare.

"Hokage needs him alive, she said. Preferably undamaged, and well, I don't think I want to deal with her or her apprentices" – he emphasized the word 'apprentices' with a meaningful glance toward Sakura – "wrath if he shows up with broken bones."

One hunter-nin shivered. After that Sasuke was treated with a little more respect. Not much, but a little. Naruto watched as the hunter-nin hauled the Uchiha over one of their partner's shoulders while a few others dealt with the dead. All the while, Naruto felt Sasuke's eyes on him, boring into his back with sorrow and apology the foremost emotions within the orbs. Naruto knew he shouldn't feel regret, but he did.

And it hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

II

The darkness was suffocating, he couldn't cover his ears, and they wouldn't shut up. They were arguing again, like they always did, over who's escape plan was better, never mind the fact that he was bound in a chakra absorbing straight jacket in the first and foremost cell block where ANBU could easily keep an eye on him, as they had for the two years since his capture. Being in prison wasn't so bad; he got regular meals, a place to sleep, and he was allowed time to bathe and have a quick jog. He was constantly restrained and they constantly argued and ne never really got a moment's peace. He knew his guards couldn't hear them; no one except him could. And they fought like cats and dogs and at times like an old married couple. When they did shut up, it was when he spoke something that made sense to them, but after a few moments, they'd start up again, this time arguing a new point of the same old argument. When he slept it was worse because he was right there between them and they still didn't shut up, so his sleep was restless and he hated waking up tired.

Uchiha would be on the left and Orochimaru on the right and they would yell back and forth above Sasuke's head and it hurt. For two years they just kept arguing, fighting over Sasuke like a perverse game of monkey in the middle, only instead of a ball there were words and instead of switching places and continuing the game, one was erased forever. Thankfully, though, Uchiha and Orochimaru were at such odds with each other that Sasuke was safe.

He didn't move from his cell the day the guards disappeared. There was an aborted jailbreak because there were some guards left, all ANBU veterans that had nothing better to do that sit around playing mahjong and kicking the crap out of the would-be escapees' asses. News was limited within the complex, so what little was thrown Sasuke's way he coveted like a precious gemstone one finds only in a lifetime of painstaking search. So he knew that during the last two years Konoha had been in a state of chaos, what with a high profile wedding all the 'Kages attended and there was a huge ceremony that had fireworks going off until early dawn. He hadn't slept at all that night, listening to the booms and the cheers and wondering what was going on. He wished he could've been there, if only to see the fireworks. Still, his soft inquiries had been met with stellar ANBU silence, so he'd given up. He'd find out eventually, either through inmate chatter or whispered conversations from the guards. Sometimes, their conversations weren't hushed at all, because they believed no one was listening. Or they were baiting the inmates, daring them to attempt a jailbreak. Prison duty got boring after a while, Sasuke assumed, and the ANBU needed something to occupy their brains.

He'd figure it out. He was, after all, a genius. Still, it gave him something to concentrate on, the mystery of events, that he could ignore the two arguing and occupy his brain. Also among the things he did to occupy his mind was make up jutsu. He'd follow the patterns of chakra in his mind's eye, imagining the hand signs and when they didn't fit or seem to work in his imagination, he erased them. Simple as that. It kept him busy and behaved and most importantly, quiet. As long as he was quiet, the guards spoke freely around him while he bathed or took his time to exercise. He didn't run during his exercise time either, instead meditating for about twenty minutes before beginning the gentle movements of Tai Chi, relaxing himself with the strange katas. And his guards allowed him his strange katas because they didn't set off the famous jounin warning bells. The movements were just a melding of mind and body, a moving meditation.

When again confined to his cell, he tried to sleep or at least rest in the void he'd managed to eke out where he couldn't hear anything but muffled arguments from Uchiha and Orochimaru. He felt rested but tired when he left the void, but rest – what little he got – was better than none at all, so he dealt. It was all Sasuke could do. He did what he could to keep from going completely crazy, as if he wasn't already.

Then his questions were answered, two years and six months to the day he was put in this confined space, as salvation arrived. Sasuke didn't recognize the man who stood before him, dressed in the customary robes of the Hokage. The Hokage he remembered was most decidedly a woman. Perhaps, one of those celebrations had been to instate this man? If so, then where was the other Hokage? Had she died? Orochimaru felt a bit gleeful at that thought, but even he admitted it would take Hell's own army to kill that harpy.

Electric blue eyes watched him from the other side of the bars, lips drawn in a thin line that made the whisker-like scars on his face all the more prominent. Sasuke stared for a long while, even as the nearest ANBU opened his cell door to allow the Hokage inside, close to what they knew was a traitor. Who was this man? Sasuke wracked his brain for an answer. They were staring at each other, black on blue, studying, gauging, weighing. It was unnerving Sasuke enough that he had to curl his right hand into a fist, just to stay his movements. Nervous ticks wouldn't be smiled upon here, especially in this sort of situation. The ANBU that hovered nearby were almost daring Sasuke to try to attack the Hokage, just to give them an excuse to beat the shit out of him, maybe even kill him.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered, finally having forced the answer out of Uchiha. Naruto smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Hey Sasuke. Wanna get out of here?"

Sasuke blinked, flicking his gaze from Naruto to the tensed ANBU behind him. Naruto nodded a little bit and drew back, turning to head out of the cell and out of Sasuke's life for who knows how long, all because Sasuke was taking forever in answering. It was a ploy, Sasuke knew, but he didn't want to stay in this place forever. He wanted to see the sky, feel the sun, and hear the birds. In here, he'd be lucky if he got to hear even music.

"Am I allowed?" Sasuke finally asked as Naruto moved closer to the cell door, almost out of it, the closest ANBU jumping to grab hold of the bars, ready to close it the moment the trailing hem of the Hokage's robe left the cell. The Rokudaime of Konoha turned back to him and nodded, hand up to pause the ANBU's movements.

"Yep. Pardoned all your crimes this morning. You're a free man now."

Sasuke hauled himself to his feet, watching ANBU file in to remove the chakra-depleting straight jacket. As his arms fell free to his sides, he studied Naruto, head tilting.

"What will I do?" he asked hesitantly, softly.

"Well, let's go discuss that." Naruto replied, holding out his hand to Sasuke. Hesitantly, Sasuke reached out his own hand and slipped his fingers around Naruto's, moving forward when the blonde pulled him, taking his hand more fully into his hold.  
As Sasuke stepped from prison grounds with Naruto, he looked up into the sky, tracing the clouds with his eyes. He thought the sky and clouds were the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

Beside the Hokage, though, even the clouds paled in comparison.


	3. Chapter 3

III.

Naruto slouched in his chair. Hinata would yell at him for doing so, since he was Hokage after all, but since Sasuke was sitting across from him so rigidly, his lie was that he was slouching to make Sasuke more comfortable in his new surroundings.

For two years, he'd let Sasuke rot in prison. Two and a half years, really, but the point was he'd let someone he made a promise – and not just any promise – to rot in prison not knowing what his fate would be. He could justify the first year and a half of leaving the Uchiha in prison because he'd been very busy, slowly taking over and being taught the position of Hokage. He hadn't known it then, of course, and figured his new – and ever increasing – duties came from Tsunade's own giddiness about getting married. And she wasn't marrying just anybody, no; she was marrying Jiraya. His new Icha Icha had been co-authored, so the cover said, by his wife-to-be, so naturally it was the number one best seller in the village because EVERYONE wanted to see how much of a pervert Tsunade really was. Naruto himself had bought that particular copy.

He kept it in his desk drawer so if he needed a laugh he could pull it out.

So when Tsunade had bid farewell to Konoha for her honeymoon – which Naruto was sure would result in more Icha Icha – Naruto was formally installed as Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha. His ceremony was full of mistakes and horribly amusing moments – and that was just practice – so everyone was expecting much the same at the real thing. Except nothing happened because the council had promised fun afterward. And they would put up with boring for two hours so they could run wild all night long. Naruto even remained stoic and got through his speech without snorting or making some joke about the Godaime so he could aim fireworks in the direction of Kakashi, who – as Naruto knew – was trying to make out with Iruka-sensei. It had been hilarious the first five times and then Kakashi had threatened to ram a firework up his ass.

Suddenly, it didn't seem so much fun anymore.

Still, after the Konoha-wide party, Naruto had been subjected to the council, whining about Uchiha Sasuke, who was actually behaving himself in prison. It was something unprecedented even for Sasuke. Usually, he would've tried to escape by now, Naruto knew, but there he was in prison, sitting nice and pretty in his cell, waiting for his punishment. Naruto had stood with Sasuke's ANBU guards for a long while, watching Sasuke sit in the corner of his cell, face hidden by the long curtain of his hair, half curled in a fetal position as though he was falling asleep. When Naruto had finally approached, he noted something of a sluggishness as Sasuke looked up at him. He fought not to grow angry as Sasuke's eyes fell upon him, not recognizing him at all until he was about leave him in the cell. Something was wrong with Sasuke, he knew, and that knowledge was heightened when Sasuke took his hand to follow him out of prison. The Uchiha Sasuke he knew would never have taken Naruto's hand nor would he have asked him anything. Naruto resolved then to ask Sakura to give Sasuke a psych evaluation and maybe get her to contact Tsunade to see if this was really Sasuke or just a clever ploy by Orochimaru. They'd tested Sasuke before they'd put him in prison and the results had been promising. But Orochimaru could've chosen to remain dormant until this very moment.

Ah, jounin paranoia.

Naruto's eyes flicked to Sasuke when the elder man got to his feet suddenly, pacing around the office like a trapped lion, pausing only on the third circuit around and finally sitting again. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter?" Naruto asked when it became apparent Sasuke wasn't going to say anything. Dark eyes flicked here and there before they settled on Naruto.

"They're watching us."

"The ANBU? Of course. I'm the Hokage. Naturally, they're paranoid that I'm going to die at any given hour."

Sasuke snorted. "Then perhaps they should be in more strategic areas than behind secret walls."

"Why do you say that?"

Sasuke snorted again, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes.

"A human's natural reaction time to anything is about, maybe, point five seconds. Even longer with the rush of adrenaline because of a startling situation. Jounin, ANBU or not, we're all human." Sasuke paused for a breath. "Those walls take about ten seconds to open, less if they're bypassed by a transportation jutsu, but still, by the time they get here, someone will be dead."

Naruto blinked, electric blue eyes flicking to the hidden cameras set in the corners of his office. He wondered, then, if Ibiki had gotten all that. The ANBU were probably itching to kill Sasuke now.

"And what about you?" Naruto asked. "How's your reaction time?"

Sasuke stared at him for a long while before tilting his head. He was debating, Naruto saw, dark eyes narrowing in thought before he looked away. His lips drew into a thin line and Naruto wondered if he'd pushed a little too much. Sasuke finally turned back to him and shrugged.

"I don't know."

Naruto sighed. Good enough.

"You asked me what you could do now that you're a free man. I was going to ask you if you wanted to be my bodyguard."

"After all we've – I've – done to you?" Sasuke asked in return, head tilting. "You'd trust your life to me?"

"Why not? We were friends weren't we?"

"Are we still?"

"I'd like to think so." Naruto said, leaning forward a bit. Sasuke's dark eyes studied him, as though looking for a trap in the words. The brunette sat back in his chair, eyes closing as he thought. Orochimaru wanted the opportunity; he could kill yet another Hokage and perhaps succeed this time. Uchiha rebelled, wanting to live in solitude for a while and make a fool proof plan to escape Konoha. Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself and sighed. Again they were fighting and Naruto was waiting for an answer. If he agreed, he'd have trouble with Orochimaru. If he refused, well. The decision was a double edges sword. Sasuke wanted to stay with Naruto, wanted to protect him. That's what –he– wanted. Finally, Naruto made a noise and Sasuke flicked his eyes to him.

"I'll do it," Sasuke whispered. He got to his feet again, arms falling to his sides as he moved to face Naruto, getting dangerously close to invading personal space.

"I'll protect you, Naruto."

"Good," Naruto replied, seeming amused. "Then I'll leave early today to show you around the house."

The Rokudaime shoved to his feet and by instinct alone, Sasuke jerked back, fighting to keep his face straight as Naruto smirked a little. Naruto moved from around his desk and bade Sasuke to follow him, moving out of the office into the hall. Almost immediately, Naruto was assaulted by Hinata, who stood with her hands on her hips, a fan in one hand, glaring hard at her village leader. It was only after Sasuke exited the office to stare at her did she seem apologetic.

"The hell was that for Hinata? Ow. Damn, I think you killed a few important brain cells." Naruto muttered. One electric blue eye opened to look at the Hyuuga, blinking when he saw her staring open-mouthed at Sasuke. Naruto grinned.

"Cleans up nice, doesn't he?"

Hinata shook herself, fighting away the blush on her cheeks. "You're not to leave the office until five today."

"Can't you make an exception just this once?" Naruto pleaded, hands coming together in a prayer-like fashion. "I was just showing Sasuke what his duties here were."

Sasuke blinked at the lie. "But, Naruto, you said that you were going to show me around the–"

"The building for your body-guarding duties." Naruto said through clenched teeth, glaring at the smaller man. Sasuke nodded and glanced away. Naruto winced and made a mental note to tell Sasuke he wasn't angry with him. Hinata tapped her lips, studying both Naruto and Sasuke in turn. She lingered on Sasuke though, watching his eyes, watching the dark orbs shiver and freeze and grow warm in succession. Were the rumours true then? She wondered. Hinata snapped her fan out then, glaring at Naruto.

"I'll show Sasuke his duties. You go back into the office and finish your work or I'll call Kiba and have him make Akamaru sit on you."

Naruto winced and looked back at Sasuke apologetically. "Sorry, dude."

Sasuke gave a small smile. "It's all right."

Sasuke watched as Hinata marched Naruto right back into the office and forced him down into the chair, a stack of papers set before him. She returned to Sasuke's side once Naruto was working through the stack diligently, and she smiled at the taller man.

"You can follow me. I'll find you something better to wear than prison clothes."

Hinata gestured to him, and Sasuke followed obediently, studying the Hyuuga woman as they wandered further away from the Hokage's office. She stepped lightly, almost without a sound, but Sasuke could hear the gentle footfalls easily. As easily as he could hear her heartbeat, Orochimaru supplied him. In reaction to the threat, the Sharingan activated, and Hinata became a violet humanoid shape, but only for a moment, as Sasuke forced the Sharingan away before she turned to him.

"This door leads to the ANBU office." Hinata said. "Most of the time, you might be here, coordinating when the on-duty ANBU."

Sasuke nodded almost numbly. Hinata moved on and Sasuke followed, the brunette man getting the long tour of the place as Hinata systematically explained everything to him, even certain particulars of his duties as he guarded Naruto's life. Their last stop was a huge walk-in closet, lined with ANBU uniforms, chuunin and jounin vests, regulation sandals, and boxes full of hitai-ates. Hinata propped open the door and led him inside, gesturing to all the garments.

"Pick what you like. I recommend getting an ANBU uniform, since you'll be initiated soon." Hinata said, and stepped back to let Sasuke play. And play he did, wandering through the closet and touching everything he dared, pulling down a large jounin vest and several ANBU vestments, along with the black shirts that were worn beneath the vests. He looked down at the ratty, prison-issue tatami sandals and picked several pairs of sandals, carrying his prizes proudly back to Hinata. If she noticed he carried no hitai-ate, she didn't say a word.

"Come on," Hinata said finally, and Sasuke obediently followed her out of the closet and back up toward the Hokage's office. When Hinata knocked on the door, it was opened by Kakashi who gave the younger jounin a cursory glance before he allowed them inside. Sasuke met Kakashi's gaze and for a long while they stared at each other, until Kakashi looked away, toward Naruto. Sasuke too looked toward the blonde and found amusement sparkling in the Hokage's electric blue eyes.

"Did you find enough, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, noting the clothes the elder man wore. Sasuke blinked and looked down at his burden and slowly nodded.

"Yeah."

"Good. Ah, I asked Kakashi to oversee your ANBU initiation. Hope you don't mind."

"No," Sasuke whispered. He bowed his head and smiled a little. "I don't mind."

"Perfect," Naruto said, looking toward Kakashi, who shrugged and nodded. Sasuke smiled a bit more as he listened to the plan for him. Kakashi would look after him during his ANBU training and he'd guard Naruto and they wouldn't be able to get what they wanted because Sasuke was in control. There was abrupt movement out of the corner of his eye. It seemed then as all time stopped suddenly, as Sasuke whipped around faster than eyes could follow, his chosen garments tumbling to the office floor as his right hand latched onto Hinata's throat. His left hand came across and grabbed his own wrist, quickly jabbing several pressure points to keep the hand from squeezing the life from her, or worse.


	4. Chapter 4

IV

It all happened so quickly that Hinata didn't register the fact her life was in danger until she saw both Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-kun launch to their feet, the former wielding several kunai. Then she became aware of the steady pressure around her throat and the nails just shy of breaking the skin around her pulse. That in itself didn't scare her as much as the ever changing looks in Sasuke's eyes. One moment, they were warm and gentle, the eyes that belonged to the Sasuke she'd had following her around for the better part of three hours, and the next they were hard and cold and worst of all dead.

Sasuke's lips parted. Hinata froze Kakashi in place with a gesture, but Naruto moved forward, eyes set in a decidedly deadly glare.

"Let her go," Sasuke whispered. Hinata mustered all the emotion she could to her moonlight eyes and pleaded with Naruto to stay where he was. It occurred to her, when Naruto's lips curled in a snarl, that neither he nor Kakashi had heard Sasuke speak.

"She's weak," Hinata heard Sasuke – no, not Sasuke. This low voice belonged to someone else – say, "We should just kill her and get it over with."

"I won't let you hurt her."

"You don't have a choice."

"Let. Her. Go."

Abruptly, whatever power struggle was taking place ended and Sasuke's right hand released its deadly grip from around Hinata's throat. Hinata fell to her knees, soon followed down by the warm eyed Sasuke, who stared at her apologetically. Hinata only smiled and looked up at Naruto.

"I'm all right."

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked, watching Kakashi haul Sasuke to his feet.

"I could take him back to prison," Kakashi informed the younger pair. To her horror, Hinata watched Naruto consider the action.

"No," Hinata pleaded. "It wasn't his fault! I startled him, that's all."

"He tried to kill you," Naruto reminded her. Kakashi noted Sasuke was trembling, head down, face hidden by the curtain of his hair.

"He didn't mean it," Hinata insisted, getting to her feet, "He only reacted. I'm fine, see? No bruises."

Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Finally he turned to Kakashi and Sasuke, watching Sasuke's eyes shiver with some emotion as he met the brunette's gaze. Sasuke's lips were moving. A prayer? No, Naruto realized, an apology. Prison had to have been hell and to be sent back there for a mistake… well, he'd catch hell from Neji but he didn't want to lock Sasuke up if there really was no reason to. He gestured for Kakashi to let his brunette captive go and watched Kakashi's fingers flex before he complied. Sasuke almost dropped to his knees, but somehow kept himself upright, staring at Naruto. The blonde said nothing and watched Sasuke mutely begin to pick up the clothes he had dropped. No one seemed to move until he was finished, standing there surrounded by three ninja who could – after receiving deadly wounds – bring him down. Sasuke winced and hugged his chosen apparel closer to his chest. Naruto heaved a silent sigh, and moved toward Sasuke, putting a hand on his shoulder. Already tense muscles became more so the moment his hand touched the brunette's shoulders but Sasuke didn't move. Almost shyly, he tore his gaze from the floor and looked up at Naruto from under his lashes, questioning. Naruto didn't like that look. He didn't like it because it made Sasuke seem so vulnerable and it did bad things to his non-existent sex drive. Finally, he squeezed the Uchiha's shoulder and looked toward Hinata, then Kakashi.

"I'm going to take him home," Naruto said.

"Is that a good idea?" Kakashi asked, eyeing Sasuke. Naruto shook his head a negative and then sighed.

"What choice do I have?"

"We could watch him," Hinata offered. She watched Sasuke tense again, and only because she had two 'X' chromosomes was Hinata able to realize Sasuke felt safe with Naruto nearby. It probably wasn't a mutual feeling, because Hinata figured Naruto was making a target of himself for the more violent side of this Sasuke for the sake of those in his care.

"Thanks, but no." Naruto replied, though he offered a smile. "I think I can handle this."

He ushered Sasuke from the office and turned back to give the two jounin some final instructions. Kakashi merely nodded his head at the man who'd once been his student, and vanished in a puff of smoke and burning ozone. Hinata tilted her head as she watched Naruto's retreating back and touched her fingers to her throat. Sasuke could've easily killed her, but he'd stopped himself. The hold he'd had on his own wrist had been the only thing keeping his hand from crushing her trachea. She shivered. They had no idea what Sasuke was capable of, or if he was really even on their side. She spent an hour straightening Naruto's office before she went home. On her way though, she couldn't help feeling that someone was watching her.

Naruto watched Sasuke explore the apartments that the Hokage lived in. Each and every Hokage occupied these spacious rooms until the day they died or stepped down. Of course, things were changed around, new furniture, new pictures on the wall, fresh paint. The whole place got a makeover to suit the resident at the given time. Sasuke was prowling, Naruto noted with amusement. He was checking everything, eyes flicking to potential danger zones and scrutinizing before he was satisfied. He'd done much the same to his bedroom, a small room down the hall from the master bedroom Naruto chose as his personal sanctuary.

Sasuke had inspected that too.

The brunette was barefoot now, dressed in some of Naruto's old sweatpants and the ANBU vest. The sweatpants had to be rolled up to come to Sasuke's ankles, which gave Naruto an even better estimate as to how much taller than Sasuke he was. Ah, little victories. Sasuke's hair was unbound, so it flowed free past his shoulders. When he turned and gave Naruto a profile to study, Naruto wondered if he was actually staring at Itachi instead of Sasuke. But then those wonderfully dark eyes turned to meet his and he knew this was Sasuke.

"Does it meet with your approval?" Naruto asked in a mild tone. Sasuke picked up on the sarcasticness of it anyway and narrowed his eyes a little.

"Your idea of traps sucks, Naruto." Sasuke replied. "A child could see that chakra thread by the window."

Naruto bit his cheek. He'd have to mention this to Iruka-sensei the next time he saw him. Sasuke had spotted in one sweep what Kakashi took hours in locating. Sasuke noted his amusement and an elegant eyebrow lifted. Naruto snorted out an aborted laugh and shook his head.

"It's nothing."

"Sure," Sasuke whispered in reply and turned away.

Now's our chance, Orochimaru hissed.

Take him out, Uchiha echoed.

Sasuke shook his head. "No," he whispered.

He wasn't even sure if he was heard but now they were arguing again, and Sasuke's head was beginning to ache. He sat down heavily on the couch and was aware of Naruto coming sit beside him. To spite his two parasites or because he just wanted to, Sasuke shifted to lay down and place his head against Naruto's thigh. The blonde was tense, but when Naruto looked down to see Sasuke's eyes closed, he relaxed. Stupid jounin paranoia. Sasuke's hands were pinned under the opposite arm as they were wrapped around his middle, legs drawn up to an almost fetal position. Naruto let his fingers stroke Sasuke's hair, marveling at the softness of it. He gently worked out snarls by finger-combing the brunette's hair, realizing when Sasuke let out a deep sigh, he was asleep. Naruto studied the Uchiha now that he was asleep and less inclined to shy away. Sasuke's skin was pale, paler than what was his norm, and that paleness made his lashes ashen against his face. He was pretty, sharing the beauty his brother had, bordering on feminine. There was an inner strength, though, Naruto knew, one that had kept Sasuke going even when things seemed bleak. Naruto hunched over Sasuke, watching his eyelids flutter in REM. He felt honoured, really, that Sasuke trusted him enough to sleep like this, to make himself vulnerable at the hands of a friend who'd become an enemy and still could bring about his death so easily. He stroked Sasuke's cheek and felt Sasuke instinctively shy away from the touch before he relaxed again, rubbing his ear against his fleshy pillow in contentment.

Naruto smiled and leaned back, one arm around Sasuke's shoulders, the other across the back of the couch. Perhaps he should get some work done. Oh, it could wait. The files and papers weren't going to up and walk away. He should contact Tsunade, though. She'd probably kill him for interrupting her retirement, but the man sleeping so peacefully in his lap would be so worth the death.


	5. Chapter 5

V.

They were watching him now. They'd stopped arguing to watch and Sasuke was growing increasingly upset about their silence. Oh, he never spoke of it, nothing is face changed to belay the fact his brain was silent as a grave. He knew that hearing voices was never a good thing, but being three souls in one body wasn't good either. In the week after his incident with Uchiha's want to kill Hinata, he'd managed to become stronger and force the other two away from the body's controls. But both Uchiha and Orochimaru knew something Sasuke didn't, which worried him. Right now, he was fighting not to fidget as Kakashi's eyes fell on him. Naruto was spectating somewhere, along with everyone else Sasuke had grown up with. Well, everyone who'd become an ANBU, in any case. This was ANBU initiation, a sequence of events that tested one's strength, stamina, resolve, ingenuity, and most of all, the will to kill. The last test Itachi had told him about was the killing. Itachi had been pitted against a friend of his, given fake weapons that could very well cut if the right force was applied, and forced to fight. The objective was to score a killing blow first. Sasuke knew what to expect, but buried his own expectations somewhere deep inside his subconscious. A void came over his mind, leaving him blank and calm and most of all, collected. With silence of mind and body, he was ready to undertake this challenge. Naruto had practiced with him in the sanctity of their home, and had on one occasion punched a hole through the wall into a guest room. After staring at each other for a long while, they had started laughing and came up with the idea to knock out the rest of the wall to create a rumpus room with an extra door, leading to the hall.

The thought made Sasuke want to smile.

His face didn't move. He stood still at the beginning of his trial as Ibiki stood up and addressed those gathered. The speech was long, a customary thing that was required to be said time and time again. It was boring, and by the time Ibiki was done, Sasuke saw quite a few people asleep. The lights flashed bright and the sleepers were woken as the lights illuminated the course for Sasuke. The first test was a walk through a maze. Stamina then, maybe strength. Sasuke took a breath and moved into the maze. The path wasn't linear, so Sasuke took a moment to gauge his surroundings. He moved left, creeping silently like a shadow. If there were any obstacles, he needed to take them out as quietly as possible. His first turn brought him face to face with a kunai turret. He dove beneath the spray of blunted and padded weaponry, rolled to his back and launched himself to his feet, executing a rising mid-air roll to get him facing the turret. He ran forward then, and before the thing began to reload, broke away the cover and pulled several wires. Sparks burned his hand but he was already moving before the searchlight caught the little flames that indicated someone's passing. Itachi had explained to him the searchlight's function once before. It was used to spot ninja who had created some sort of revealing position, and if that ninja was caught, he or she was disqualified. So Sasuke avoided the light and used it as a reminded not to make thinks explode anymore. As he walked through the maze, he nursed his burned hand, tearing some strips of cloth off his pants to wrap the hurting flesh. He'd heal it later; right now, he couldn't afford to expend the chakra. He kept moving through the obstacles – another kunai turret, a tunnel put, a murky water filled pit that seemed to be hundreds of feet deep – and paused to take a breath and catch his bearings. He'd been in here near to two hours and he knew he wasn't alone. He heard voices and heartbeats of those nearby and had done his best to avoid them. Some ninja sometimes formed alliances to get to the end of the trial; others, like Sasuke, preferred to steer clear. It wasn't because of mistrust that Sasuke avoided the others taking the test; he was avoiding them because he didn't want to fight them. Itachi had told him of the final test that wasn't told to the test-takers. In the maze everyone was a potential ally and enemy and you were expected to discern which one the potential ally – or enemy – was. Jounin paranoia made everyone the enemy. Sasuke paused to listen to his parasites, trusting them a tiny bit more than he would someone he encountered. But Uchiha and Orochimaru remained silent and Sasuke continued on. He paced himself to keep from getting tired and took breaks only to determine his position and who was left. He heard four distinct heartbeats beside his own and that he slowed until it was only a dull thump-thump every few seconds. The other hearts were racing – excitement, adrenaline, fear – giving Sasuke insight to their positions. He continued on, passing more traps and solving little puzzles that opened new passageways. He was careful about which puzzles he chose because the searchlight had been attracted to the small fire that had started without Sasuke's knowledge. He'd made it away long before the searchlight revealed him, but he learned from that little mistake.

Three heartbeats nearby.

Sasuke paused and looked up to see the searchlight frozen over to his far left. There were shadows in the light, the ANBU proctors and their victim, Sasuke supposed. He continued on as the searchlight began another sweep of the floor. He rounded a corner and dove for cover as a kunai turret let fly a barrage of its weaponry. Sasuke huddled behind his cover until it was over and rolled into the open, leaping for cover just before another barrage began. Just as the last blunted kunai struck Sasuke's cover, he was moving, low and quick, leaping onto the turret and pulling off its covering panel again. This time he chose his wires more carefully, pulling them systematically instead of all at once. The machine fell quiet and Sasuke rolled off it, smiling a little at his handiwork.

He ducked an incoming kunai, rolled as he went down and came to his knees, grabbing the hilt of the weapon and throwing it back at who had attacked him all in one motion. The kunai barely missed slicing the throat of a pretty young kunoichi who stared at him wide-eyed. She hesitated; Sasuke didn't. He got to his feet and charged her, weaponless as he was. It didn't matter; the movement was so sudden that she didn't have time to react anyway. One moment Sasuke was ten yards away, the next, ten inches, in her face, grabbing her wrist and twisting it behind her back. She retaliated with another kunai, aimed at his side this time. Sasuke jerked back and realized that these kunai weren't blunted, the kind each ANBU applicant received before they entered the testing area. The weapons she was using were sharp and meant to kill.

Orochimaru's sudden surge of giddiness and Uchiha's anger confirmed Sasuke's suspicions. So they had infiltrated even this far.  
"I'm not going to die here," Sasuke whispered to himself as much as he whispered it to his parasites and the kunoichi.

"Yes you are," the kunoichi replied in the same whisper. "You're going to die right here and Orochimaru-sama will take his rightful place as our leader again."

Kill her, Uchiha growled and for once he and Sasuke were in complete agreement. If she lived, she would go back to her cohorts and plan an attack on Sasuke's former friends, if only to get them to believe he was the one behind the attacks. That wouldn't do.

Sasuke jerked up on the wrist he held, twisted it around as far as the bones could twist and forced her arm out wide. He heard bone grate and snap, felt agony shudder through her body before he shoved her away from him. Despite the broken limb the kunoichi came at him, another kunai in her unbroken hand. He didn't want to kill her painfully. It seemed, though, with her persistence, he would have to. When she came into his set radius, he lashed out with his foot, connecting with her sternum. She fell, breathless, dazed and Sasuke took the moment to disarm her. She was helpless, but overriding that thought was the fierce need to protect. Sasuke knelt, thinking to finish her off with his stolen kunai when she lunged at him, up off the ground, broken and whole hands latching around his neck. It was instinct, then, to lash out with his right hand, index and middle finger crooked for a jab. The snake-fangs slid out of their sheaths into her pulse, delivering a fatal dose of venom. Sasuke was gone before she let out her first bone-chilling agonizing scream, muted only because Uchiha had sent a small burst of chakra to her vocal chords, snapping and tearing them until all she could do was gurgle on her own blood as the poison stilled her heart.  
Sasuke never glanced back.

The protection of the village was worth more than one life. Especially an enemy's.


	6. Chapter 6

VI.

Naruto waited patiently in his little corner of the cell, dressed in his ANBU whites and holding his mask. It was shaped into the likeness of a fox, a dig against the biju his body sheltered. But it was more than that, as he'd have earned this particular mask regardless whether he'd been Kyuubi's jinchuuriki or not. The first lesson he'd gotten from Ibiki about the ANBU was that the mask given to them was based on their skills, the skills they showed and used during the test. Those skills were then equated to an animal and the mask was made, custom to its eventual owner. Kakashi's mask waited years for him to obtain it, and now it hung on Iruka-sensei's wall. When it disappeared, Iruka knew Kakashi was away and when it reappeared, Kakashi was back. It was an ingenious little system. There were three others in this cell with him, each chosen in respect to the person undertaking the ANBU test. Should their counterpart reach the middle of the maze, they would go out in full gear, face covered by their mask, and fight. A killing blow was needed – but no blood would be drawn thanks to the blunted, padded weapons they were going to wield – to finish the fight. If the initiate scored the first blow, he or she passed and was evaluated by the eldest ANBU but if the opponent, the marked ANBU scored first, the initiate failed and would take the test over in a year. The cell door opened and the occupants looked up at Kotetsu and Izumo.

"Shironue Takako," Kotetsu began, "you're no longer needed."

"Hirofumi Keita," Izumo said, "you're no longer needed."

The woman and man looked at each other and sighed almost happily, getting to their feet and following Kotetsu and Izumo away from the cell. Naruto looked over at the remaining male, watching him fidget with his mask. To be called away meant that your counterpart had failed and you were free to leave. Being left behind made the prospect of your counterpart being the sole survivor very likely indeed. And probably being stuck in the same room as your Hokage wasn't doing good things to your heart. Naruto fought back his smile and closed his eyes. To fight Sasuke, he'd need every bit of strength and chakra as well as trickery. He knew Sasuke's style; after all, he'd cheated by getting Sasuke to spar with him for the exact purpose of learning how Sasuke fought. If he knew his opponent's weakness, it would be easy to exploit them, especially in battle. The hardest part about that tactic was that now Sasuke knew Naruto's style of close combat and Naruto needed to keep his identity a secret from Sasuke. If Sasuke knew he was fighting the man he was supposed to protect, Naruto wasn't sure what would happen. Sasuke might freak out, or he'd figure out the test, or, or, or. There were too many possibilities to consider. Naruto had to play this by sight and see how it went. He'd make it up to Sasuke somehow. Maybe he wouldn't do anything stupid the first official week Sasuke's bodyguarding duties began. His mind drifted to the letter he'd received from Tsunade.

She had told him to get Sakura to administer a simple psych evaluation – which he had done and Sakura had found nothing wrong with Sasuke – and she and Jiraya would be by in a few weeks. They were due to arrive three weeks from now, according to Sakura. If he could convince Sasuke to talk to Tsunade, maybe she could figure out why Sasuke was so… un-Sasuke. The door opened again and Naruto was soon alone. He took a deep breath and stood up, tying his mask over his face.

It was time to face his destiny and see if he could beat Sasuke in close combat.

Last time had been a draw, after all.

Sasuke stood in the dark with his eyes closed and listened. He'd made it through the test with almost no scratches and he'd found himself alone in a dark room. He could hear faint noises, and discerned a few were voices. He heard a hatch open and all went silent. Sasuke kept his eyes closed as the lights came on, letting them adjust behind his eyelids. It was easier that way, because your eyes weren't forced into shock at the sudden light change. He slowly opened his eyes, ready for action instead of being a sitting duck for the few seconds of eye adjustment. The sight that greeted him was something he wasn't really prepared for, so his mind stuttered to a halt as he stared at the masked ANBU before him. Itachi had said the final test pitted you against a friend, not a masked ANBU. Sasuke pushed aside the anxiety. He couldn't mess up, not here, because he was going to be Naruto's bodyguard. He needed to win. Sasuke set his stance and waited. The ANBU cocked his arm and threw a kunai at Sasuke's feet; the weapon dug into the floor about an inch away from Sasuke's open toes. Sasuke never flinched; instead he slowly bent down from the knees, never taking his eyes off his opponent. If the ANBU was waiting for some clue, Sasuke never gave it, wrapping his fingers around the hilt of the kunai and rising again. The air was pressing down on his skin, his ears were ringing with the silence, and his opponent's heartbeat. Sasuke feinted to the left, watching the ANBU follow him. At the last second, Sasuke changed direction, left foot crossing over his right and twisting at the ankle to send his body to the left, past the ANBU, behind him. Uchiha was laughing and Sasuke went in for the killing blow.

Blunted metal met and sparked, a shower of a thousand tiny stars falling over them a split second before they broke apart. Sasuke fell back, regained his footing and charged again, hearing metal strike metal again and again. It was a horrible, beautiful symphony of metal, a dance of bodies so well-trained it was hard to imagine this was a test and one future balanced so precariously on the outcome. Naruto was panting, his breath coming in short bursts as Sasuke came at him again and again, fully intent on killing. Naruto blocked and parried, fighting for his very life. He knew he wouldn't die, but he could get hurt. His arms were aching from the repeated impacts against Sasuke's kunai and his legs were starting to feel like jelly. Much longer, and Sasuke would win by default. Naruto wasn't without his own little victories. Sasuke too was panting and his vicious speed had dropped down to normal, allowing Naruto to keep up, even plan ahead to make a move Sasuke wasn't expecting. Naruto lunged at Sasuke, ended up diving between his legs as Sasuke leaped up and over him, somersaulting and landing behind him. Naruto whirled and brought his kunai up to defend from a downward slash, only to get a fist to the chest instead. Sasuke bore him down with another quick jab to his gut and when Naruto was on his knees, Sasuke kicked him in the face, right under his chin. Naruto fell back, head spinning, and lay there dazed. He lost. He'd sorely underestimated Sasuke's abilities. Who would've thought to duck under a feinted chop with a kunai to attack other exposed areas anyway? There was a sudden weight on his chest, a knee on his sternum. Then there was a prick against his pulse.

Oh, shit.

He moved fast to pull off his ANBU mask, blue staring wide-eyed up at narrowed coal, watched Sasuke's eyes grow wide, wider still as he froze, staring down at Naruto, almost frightened. Stiffly, Sasuke drew back, swallowed and stood up, looking to the side and letting his weapon drop to the floor. Naruto pulled himself to his feet and smiled at the brunette who refused to stare at him. Naruto reached out and placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, finally getting him to glance over. Naruto smiled gently.

"You did it, Sasuke. You passed."

Sasuke frowned. "I nearly killed you."

"But you didn't."

"Doesn't matter. Won't matter. Not to them. They'll say I failed."

Naruto shook his head, but even he wasn't sure. Yeah, Sasuke had almost killed him, but he hadn't. It hadn't been Sasuke's fault he hadn't realized who he was fighting until that final moment. If the ANBU proctors failed Sasuke for that innocent transgression, then what was the point of having Naruto fight him?

"They won't fail you," Naruto said. "It was an honest mistake,"

Sasuke's gaze told him that Naruto didn't quite get it. Doubt bubbled up in Naruto's heart, giving birth to horrible thoughts. Was Sasuke talking about the proctors of the test or was he talking about Orochimaru? Orochimaru would certainly say Sasuke had failed and so would Kabuto. Which led him to the thought that all of this was just a clever ploy dreamt up by Orochimaru. After all, who wouldn't trust Sasuke after he was so well behaved? Naruto shook his head. He couldn't afford to think like that, not yet. Sasuke hadn't done anything to warrant those kind of thoughts. Naruto's hand dropped from Sasuke's shoulder to his wrist and Sasuke took the opportunity to clutch to Naruto's hand. They stared at each other for a long while before Naruto turned to lead Sasuke out of the small arena. Sasuke followed silently. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if Sasuke was quietly planning a coup, like his predecessor. The Rokudaime shivered.

Damn Jounin paranoia.


	7. Chapter 7

VII.

Sasuke gingerly settled himself on the mat before the Council. Naruto was there, a silent observer. He had no say in this particular meeting, his presence being only out of courtesy and grudging respect. Sasuke had a vague idea why he was here, and it had nothing to do with his score on the ANBU exam. It was the Council's excuse to get him away from those who could defend him, those who could voice for him and crucify him where he sat. His hands folded into fists on his knees and he slowly counted to ten as he held his breath, exhaling so very slowly.

We could destroy them all in an instant, Uchiha said.

No point in that, Orochimaru replied glumly. They're not worth the effort to finish what time has begun. Few more years and then…

Sasuke said nothing, eyes downcast and drifting here and there, gauging, studying. He wouldn't attack first, rather waiting for the verbal sparing to begin amongst the elders before he gave a light cough to get their attention once more. The verbal sparring almost came to blows at one point, Sasuke noted amusedly. The Council only existed because trial and error had proved that one man – or woman – couldn't both rule a village and make choices that were in the best interest of the people. But the Council couldn't rule the village either, because what young person, shinobi or not, would listen to an –old– person? So thus, the Hokage existed, someone who understood the ninjas needs and personal quirks, who would protect the village from ally or enemy, and would force the ninja to obey whether they wanted to or not. Naruto could easily override what the Council decided and his decision would be supported by the shinobi, but dissent would begin amongst the Council. And, despite their advanced age, were still quite influential to the inner workings of Konoha. A whisper in the right ear would send the village on a roller coaster ride of suspicion and backstabbing, and give new definition to the term 'running blind'. Without trust between shinobi of the same village, what good were the spy networks and defenses? A village that depended on such things for its survival would be a sitting duck.

"Uchiha Sasuke," one voice finally rang out, bringing him out of his daydream. Sasuke quickly reviewed what he'd missed of the conversation and fought to control his forming smirk as the debate that had taken place during his zoning had been about village matters, with Naruto's input as both shinobi and Rokudaime. How interesting that they wanted to avoid the subject of Sasuke for as long as they could. Still, one could only avoid the inevitable for so long and if the council didn't address him today, they would have to reconvene tomorrow, which prohibited personal plans. As though playing mahjong or bingo was important. Sasuke sighed and decided to agree with Uchiha's statement that to old people, stupid board games were important. He heard someone's heartbeat pick up and he realized they were waiting for a reply. Sasuke inclined his head and stared down the old man that headed the Council, leaving no room for another to have his attention. Judging by the several heartbeats that suddenly increased, that made people nervous.

"Uchiha Sasuke, it's come to our attention that, during your ANBU examination, you displayed homicidal urges toward Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure."

Fancy way of saying you tried to kill the most important ninja of the village, Orochimaru remarked.

Shut up, Sasuke said. The snake-like man chortled quietly and settled back to watch the show. Verbal swordplay between people had never been so interesting. Sasuke canted his head and glanced toward Naruto before replying.

"I wasn't aware that the ANBU I was fighting was, as you say, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure."

Someone snorted to conceal a laugh. Sasuke was sure it had been Naruto. A few of the elderly on the Council had begun to whisper amongst themselves at his reply. It had been snarky. Sasuke figured Uchiha had supplied the tone of voice, being sarcastic and moody as he was. He tried to listen to what they were talking about, but now Orochimaru and Uchiha were arguing again. Sasuke looked helplessly toward Naruto who could only give him a sympathetic smile. Sasuke watched the two leaders of the Council – what were their names again? – raise their hands to motion for silence. Everything hushed, except for Uchiha and Orochimaru's arguing; nothing, it seemed, could shut them up when they really got going, so Sasuke fought to tune them out. It was easier said than done, but somehow, he managed it. Of course, in concentrating he missed most of the conversation between the elders on the Council and was left clueless. Some god must have liked him when one elderly man leaned forward and asked the easiest question Sasuke could've imagined.

"Sasuke-kun, what would you like to do?"

"I want to protect Naruto."

There had been no hesitation, so assured he was of his answer that Sasuke just blurted it out. Thankfully, the man who had questioned him seemed satisfied as well.

"Then I give the Hokage full responsibility to your well-being. You will report to him, as well as your superior in the ANBU Black Ops, tomorrow."

Sasuke rose as gracefully as he could, bowing low to the council, then to Naruto, before he excused himself from the room, and tried not to collapse against the wall outside from the sheer relief it was over. The door creaked open not long after Sasuke had emerged, admitting Naruto into the hall. The Hokage merely smiled at Sasuke and reached out for his hand, taking hold of it and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Come on," Naruto said kindly, "you deserve a drink after that."

"Do all of your bodyguards-to-be have to go through that?"

Naruto hummed. "Yeah, just about."

Sasuke sighed and tried to ignore the headache that was forming. Orochimaru and Uchiha were arguing again, but this time Sasuke drowned them out, focusing on Naruto's voice as a way to keep him in this world instead of sinking into himself to get away from the arguing parasites.

"I'll get the old team together," Naruto was saying cheerfully. "Sakura's been waiting to talk to you."

Sakura? Sasuke asked himself.

That pink-haired bimbo who was always throwing herself at me, Uchiha replied.

Oh.

THAT Sakura.

"Is it just going to be us?" Sasuke asked, watching Naruto's back.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

Sasuke could only smile and shake his head a negative, lengthening his stride to keep up with the younger man. Naruto only smiled a little bit, head tilting back at the sound of the footsteps chasing after him and buried the doubt beneath a wall of confidence.


	8. Chapter 8

VIII

"You know you're very lucky," Sakura said, leaning over the table to reach for the soy sauce by Sasuke's elbow, "getting a second chance like this."

Sasuke just watched her, head tilting, flicking dark eyes toward Naruto before they settled back on the rose-haired woman. Sasuke finally shrugged, leaning his chin on a closed fist and closing his eyes.

"I've been running for a long time." Sasuke replied softly.

"Well, now you don't have to run anymore." Naruto said around a piece of sushi, reaching for another piece. "You're not eating."

"I'm not hungry," Sasuke said. "I'll eat something later."

"Eat something now. You're going to keep saying you're not hungry until the point you become nothing but bones." Naruto admonished. "Eat."

Blinking, Sasuke just held back the sigh and reached for the last piece of salmon sushi, popping the piece into his mouth before Naruto and Sakura could gang up on him. If that happened, there'd be no way that Sasuke could walk out of the restaurant without gaining a few pounds. Naruto watched him like a hawk until Sasuke ate a few more pieces of sushi and finished off a bowl of rice, and just as Sasuke was about to pop a piece of sashimi into his mouth, Naruto just gave a slow nod, allowing Sasuke to stop force-feeding himself.

"So, Sasuke," Sakura ventured, smiling at the brunette, "what are you planning to do, besides guard Naruto?"

Sasuke tilted his head. "I don't know… I'll find something."

"You could come to a few classes I'm teaching,"

"Healing jutsu?" Sasuke asked softly.

Naruto swallowed his mouthful of rice and nodded. "Yeah. Medical stuff and a few other things."

"It's for the older ninja. Jounin rank and above." Sakura explained. "Mostly a refresher course, since we've gotten reports from Suna and Kiri about a new illness."

"Things children shouldn't know." Sasuke said softly. "Things they need to be protected from."

"Pretty much."

Sasuke just nodded, leaning back in his chair. The classes would be beneficial in the long run, really, because it wasn't like Orochimaru or Uchiha would deign to help him should a medical emergency arise. It would be easier to learn skills on his own, under the watchful eye of an expert.

I am an expert, Orochimaru muttered.

Uchiha rolled his eyes.

Sasuke just covered up his sigh and smiled at Sakura. Or he tried to at least. His lips just didn't cooperate like he wanted them to, and he ended up giving her a sort of half-smile. Sakura's returning smile was nervous at best. He let Naruto hammer out the details with the rose-haired kunoichi and turned inward enough to listen to Orochimaru and Uchiha argue and still keep himself conscious about what his Hokage was speaking about. It was a nice feeling, sitting here, being included even though it wasn't like he was paying attention. It was just nice being wanted. Of course, if they knew who – or what – he was, it would never be like this. Worse come to worst, he would be someone's pet project, something to be studied. Maybe even something to be experimented on. Sasuke decided it wouldn't be prudent to dwell on that thought, simply because he had other things he had to worry about. Namely, his two parasites fighting over whom should control the body.

"Then I'll see Sasuke tomorrow?" Sakura asked, finally truly smiling. Sasuke just blinked and looked at her, taking a moment to review the conversation he'd missed. Class at nine in the morning, hospital, second floor.

"I'll be there." Sasuke said softly.

Sakura nodded and stood up, placing a few bills on the table to cover her meal. "Then, tomorrow, Sasuke."

"Uh-huh," Sasuke said absently, watching the woman leave. A moment later, he turned to Naruto, frowning. "She doesn't like me."

Naruto blinked. "No, she doesn't trust you. There's a difference. It's going to take time, Sasuke, for people to start to trust you again."

"But you trust me."

"I'm an idiot like that."

Sure. Uchiha said rather nastily. He only trusts you because he's got the Kyuubi.

Shut up.

Sasuke sighed quietly. "I'm free to go to the class then?"

"Yeah. I'm in the office then anyway, and besides, Hinata will be there." Naruto's voice held a tiny bit of disdain. Sasuke could only smile.

The two paid for their meal and left the restaurant, talking of inane things. Those seemed to be best, Naruto had decided, because Sasuke seemed to always clam up when the subject of Orochimaru was breached. He even froze when Itachi was mentioned, his eyes glazing as if he couldn't quite figure out what the speaker meant when bringing up the subject of his brother. So they talked about the weather, they talked about training, about the Academy's newest genin, and of people they knew. Sasuke talked of things that pleased him the most, and Naruto mostly listened. It seemed to be an easy existence. But not everyone was pleased with the idea of a nukenin being so close to their village's leader despite the precautions the Hokage had taken to ensure his own safety.

Their new peace was soon to be shattered.

The pair just hadn't realized it yet.


	9. Chapter 9

IX

Medical class had been easier than Sasuke had imagined, mostly because the people there were too afraid to goof off with him in the immediate vicinity. Sasuke got the hint, learned as much as he could and asked Sakura for her books, and then retreated to Naruto's office for the rest of the day. He spent his time studying the books, the papers and studies, stretching out his senses from time to time to try and find something out of the ordinary within the Hokage's office. Then he went back to studying, ignoring the movement around him. A few of their childhood friends came to visit, though their voices were often strained and Sasuke couldn't figure out why they would be afraid of him until he realized he was holding the pen in a white-knuckled grip.

He tried to relax, to get back to his studies, but by then, his temper had been aroused and Sasuke needed to move. So he rose, stretched, and felt his spine pop in several places.

You really should just kill them all and get it over with, Uchiha said almost scathingly.

Sasuke ignored him. "I'm going to go for a run, Naruto."

The Rokudaime looked up from his paper work, frowning. "Want me to come with you?"

Sasuke could only smile. "You'll get in trouble. If I'm not back in ten minutes, then you can come after me."

Naruto stared at him for a while. Finally he nodded and went back to his papers while Sasuke moved from the office, taking to the rooftops to make a circuit of the village. The entire time, Uchiha and Orochimaru argued, and Sasuke did his utmost best to ignore them. He'd gotten better at it over the weeks, become more independent, able to turn off his senses toward the parasites within his own soul and live as he wanted.

Sasuke landed lightly before the old Uchiha compound, staring at the dilapidated building. He hadn't even thought of visiting the place since it hadn't been a part of his life. Uchiha's yes, but not Sasuke's. Uchiha had never wanted to come back, the place filled with evil and vile memories far too painful for him to even consider reliving now. But Sasuke's curiosity had him moving for that door, pulling open rotting and splintering wood, stepping into the compound and standing still for a long moment. He felt the hatred in the bloodstained walls and floors, felt the revulsion, felt the sadness. The blood dried into the wood and paper remembered that horrible night so many years ago when all human memory had forgotten it. Sasuke, though, never intended to forget it. Stepping further into the house, the nukenin activated his Sharingan, colour being replaced with black and white images, the bloodstains glowing an eerie purplish hue with chakra that hadn't quite dissipated after all this time.

It was with that lingering chakra that Sasuke began to weave his jutsu, bringing forth those painful memories that made Uchiha try to seize his heart with all the strength he could muster, trying to deter the body with pain.

"Stop it," Sasuke whispered out loud. "I want to see it. I need to remember."

I don't! Uchiha cried. I don't want to remember! What that bastard did…! What he did to me, my family…!

Orochimaru, for his part, kept his silence.

The images began then, ghostly, ghastly images of blood and violence, with Sasuke standing in the middle as a ghostly spectator himself. He saw child-Uchiha, Itachi. He saw the blood and the tears and finally, at a particularly painful squeeze to his heart, cut off his jutsu. His vision went from black and white to full colour. He dropped to his knees, panting, eyes closed tight.

I told you! Uchiha snarled. I told you I didn't want to see it.

Shut up. Orochimaru drawled.

"Sasuke, what the fuck are you doing here?"

Sasuke's head shot up to stare at Kakashi, black eyes meeting hardened blue and Sharingan red. After that, he could only bow his head once more, not having the energy to even stand. He wasn't aware that he'd whimpered until Kakashi's hand fell on his shoulder, the touch more genuinely comforting than genuinely angry.

"Sasuke?"

"I…" Sasuke swallowed. Weak. He was so weak. He licked his lips and tried again. "I wanted to remember what happened here."

"So you came alone?" Kakashi helped his former student stand, helping him keep his balance when he wobbled. "There are people out to kill you, Sasuke."

Of course there were people out to kill him. He had something that was desperately coveted by his two parasites. The room swayed slightly and Sasuke took a deep breath. "You came after me?"

"Naruto sent me after you. You've been gone for over an hour. The Council scrambled the ANBU and hunter nin." Kakashi sighed and pulled Sasuke's arm over his shoulder, supporting the younger man as he hauled him out of the miserable Uchiha family home. "I'm taking you to the hospital."

No!

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't need to go to the hospital. I need to sleep."

"You're going to the hospital."

The tone brooked no argument. Sasuke could only sigh and nod, allowing Kakashi to set up his alibi for his lost hour. He really wasn't in the mood to argue anyway. Several tempers would already be raised in his defense, after all. Kakashi was his bodyguard throughout the entire ordeal, Sakura 'tsk'ing and making notes on a chart just to make sure she could keep him away from the Council's bloodhounds. Naruto, too, made his appearance, and when Sasuke was finally alone, the brunette just settled back on his pillows and closed his eyes.

"You've really done it this time," Sakura said upon entering. "The Council says it has proof you were conspiring with Konoha's enemies."

"Going to a haunted house hardly constitutes as 'conspiring'." Sasuke said blandly. Sakura gave him a sharp look.

"You also failed the psych exam."

What psych exam?

Sakura sighed and waved a bunch of papers in Sasuke's face. "Multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia. You weren't even aware Tsunade-sama was in the room testing you."

Sasuke felt Uchiha and Orochimaru's glee. He fought not to pale, fought not to react. "It's typical, you know."

"Not for you. Not in your case." Sakura sighed, moving to stand before the brunette, head tilting to the side. "You're going to be erased."

Sasuke stared at her, his face a still, cold, calm mask. Naruto had done all he could, Sakura meant. Sasuke's mistake in leaving the office had resulted in his own death. While the body could be mutilated beyond reasoning, the souls would live on. And one in particular would be able to put the body back together. But him, Sasuke, would be gone.

He couldn't let that happen.

"Sakura. I'm enacting my privileges as ANBU."

The rose-haired woman gave a small smile. "We were hoping you would."


	10. Chapter 10

X.

Sasuke pulled the mask denoting him as an ANBU down over his face. He did it simply so he wouldn't have to look at the other ANBU surrounding him. He knew he had allies in that group, but he didn't know whom. He wasn't supposed to know whom. He was supposed to survive through the next few hours without any help from them, treating everyone like an enemy until they revealed themselves to be an ally. Really, his allies were only there to make sure he didn't get killed.

Enacting his privileges as an ANBU simply meant he was able to postpone his death sentence. It was cruel, really. If he died here, then he was simply erased. If he survived, then he was pardoned. It seemed silly to go through such loops just to survive, but in a society where insanity was technically frowned upon (but allowed, ironically enough), it was a rigorous test to prove that you still had it in you to follow orders and survive being hunted down like an animal.

It never really got old.

There was no signal, but Sasuke knew when to launch into the dark anyway. Uchiha and Orochimaru giggled with mad glee as the chase went on in full, each hoping that Sasuke met his end at the hands of someone with a desire for revenge. Sasuke landed lightly on a branch and took a moment to collect himself. He needed to survive if only to be able to keep Uchiha and Orochimaru from getting what they wanted. He needed to survive so he could protect Naruto. He knew that before he'd existed, Uchiha had ignored the power of caring for others and had failed. Now, Sasuke wanted to correct his mistakes. He needed to correct Uchiha's mistakes if only to feel more comfortable with himself.

A kunai barely missed his ear, and he knew if the one who'd thrown it had really been trying, the weapon would've found a new home in the back of his skull. Whether it had been thrown by an ally or enemy, Sasuke caught the blade with barely a glance at the weapon before he flung it right back. There was a choke, meaning the weapon had hit its mark. Sasuke launched himself into the darkness of the forest and just kept moving. He was being hunted and hunting at the same time, just trying to stay alive until sunrise.

A body tackled him from the side, the two crashing down against branches and tree trunks, hitting hard on the loamy floor below. Sasuke jackknifed his elbow into his assailant's chest, shoving the other off him. Sasuke was caught in an iron grip as the other rolled, forcing Sasuke into a position of vulnerability. Sasuke struggled, hissing against the weight of his attacker, struggling to get a little bit of leverage. He managed, somehow, to at least free his right hand from his attacker's hold, crooking his index and middle finger for a strike.

"Sasuke!" Naruto hissed. "Knock it off!"

"N-Naruto?"

The Hokage pulled off his ANBU mask and sat back on Sasuke's thighs, rubbing his cheek as Sasuke pulled off his own mask, leaning up on his elbows to stare at the blonde. Naruto sighed and rolled off of Sasuke, sitting beside him as the brunette righted himself, pulling his knees up to his chest.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "You're not supposed to be helping me."

"That's bullshit and you know it." Naruto snapped. "I'm the Hokage. I can do whatever I damn well want."

Sasuke sighed. Stubborn little… "And if they catch you helping me?"

"They're pretty much expecting it. Look, what you did was stupid, but that technically is your house. You're allowed to go in there as much as you like. You told me, more or less, where you were going, and told me to come find you."

"And the psych evaluation?"

Naruto's jaw worked for a moment. "That's been on the books ever since you were released from prison. Tsunade came back form her honeymoon just for it, at my request, but beyond multiple personality disorder and slight schizophrenia, there were no grounds for the Council to bring this about."

"They just want to kill me?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's pretty… short-sighted of them, isn't it?"

Naruto shrugged. "We have reason to believe the order didn't come from the Council itself."

Sasuke's slashing glare toward Naruto was littered with accusations. "You're an idiot for using yourself as bait."

"I'm not the bait," Naruto said softly. "We're the bait."

Sasuke blinked, staring at Naruto for a long while, silent. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. So the Hokage was using himself and his bodyguard as bait for the hired killers of the Council, except the Council hadn't issued the kill order. This mysterious anti-Council had issued the order.

This is so juvenile. Orochimaru muttered.

Says the pedophile whose entire army consists of little boys. Uchiha snarled.

"You couldn't have told me?" Sasuke asked, rising to his feet, helping Naruto up a moment later. The taller blonde just shook his head a negative and folded his arms over his chest.

"I couldn't. See, we're trying to lure out the last remnants of Orochimaru's minions. And since you had the most contact with him, we were thinking you'd be able to lure them out."

"And you're here as added incentive."

"Pretty much."

"You're an idiot, Naruto." Sasuke said without much inflection. The blonde just sighed, shaking his head.

"I know. Sakura gave me the same speech. But it was the only way, and I'm sorry for it."

Sasuke snorted. "Just so we're clear, Naruto, once we finish this, I'm going to kick your ass."

Naruto laughed. "All right, all right."

Sasuke couldn't help the slight smile that appeared, shaking his head slightly. Naruto shifted closer, reaching out to stroke Sasuke's face. It was sweet, sensual, certainly entirely inappropriate for such a situation. It provided the perfect distraction, the perfect opportunity, and the ANBU watching the pair fell for it. Sasuke launched back from Naruto, kunai in hand, the weapon tearing open the throat of one of the ANBU. Naruto wasn't far behind, his own weapon cutting through the chest of his own attacker, kicking off the body to slam his kunai into the skull of an ANBU coming up behind him. Naruto and Sasuke collided, back to back, and Sasuke tried hard not to falter when Uchiha began to laugh hysterically. Orochimaru remained silent, but the grin upon his face told Sasuke that he shared Uchiha's malicious enthusiasm. Which meant what? What did it mean?

Sasuke blinked once, twice, and his world shifted, colour draining away to black and white with bright pulsing lights for heartbeats. He listened, hearing something he had missed in the heat of battle. His eyes dropped to his feet.

Naruto felt himself bodily flung away from Sasuke. He landed hard, rolling, managing to kill one of his attackers before he turned back to Sasuke to call the brunette's name, to order him to get away. Only the sound was stuck in his throat, watching as if in slow motion the red spray of blood erupt from Sasuke's abdomen, the Sound nin hiding beneath the earth moving higher into the air and pulling his bloodied sword from Sasuke's supple flesh and armour. Sasuke's right hand whipped out, his index and middle finger puncturing the Sound nin's pulse. Hot red spurted out over Sasuke's hand, the Sound ninja stumbling back, clutching the wound.

Anger, hot and heavy, boiled up in Naruto's soul, his eyes focusing on the dying Sound shinobi. Instead of heading for the first target, Naruto focused the rage upon the remaining living Sound ninja. They didn't have a chance. Naruto ripped into them with his bare hands, snapping necks and tearing out throats, snarling in rage and hatred. Only one managed to escape but Naruto couldn't bring himself to care. He whipped around and rushed to Sasuke's side, skidding to his knees beside the dying brunette, trying to put the elder's guts back into his stomach.

"Stay with me, Sasuke!" Naruto screamed. "Stay with me!"


	11. Chapter 11

XI.

Sakura washed the blood from her hands and sighed, watching her assistants clean up her knives and needles she'd used for the surgery. The entire shinobi community was having a moment of silence, waiting for her to emerge from the operating room with the verdict. Finally, the rose-haired woman left the room and moved to find the waiting shinobi. Naruto sat surrounded by Kiba, Hinata, and Neji, while Lee and Shino took positions beside obvious escape routes. TenTen and Ino had positions before the windows, carefully keeping an eye out for anyone who wasn't in their little circle.

She gave them a smile then. "He'll make it. It was a clean cut, very little tissue damage. Besides having a very nice scar, Sasuke's going to be sticking around with us for a while longer."

The collective breath of relief certainly eased the tension in the room and Naruto rose to address his gathered group of shinobi. He met everyone's eyes, getting their utmost attention.

"Keep your eyes and ears open for any dissent. We're not the only ones to know Sasuke survived this. I'm counting on you guys to keep him safe."

"Why is he so important all of a sudden?" Kiba quipped, voice low to keep his question sounding innocent. Naruto just shrugged.

"Why is Shino so important to you?"

Kiba only nodded.

As the rest of the shinobi left the room, Naruto turned to Sakura. "Can I see him?"

"Right now, only through glass. I'm afraid of any infection getting into the wound with it so freshly stitched together." She sighed. "Tomorrow morning, I'll let you see him."

Naruto frowned, but he had to trust Sakura in her judgment. After all, she was the licensed doctor of their group. So he could only go home that night and wait for the morning to come, unable to really sleep because that scene would replay over and over in his mind, and this time he would be too slow to save Sasuke at all.

Even after exhausting himself with katas and personal training, he still couldn't sleep, unable to even lay down and try.

Kit, Kyuubi grumbled, the Uchiha brat's going to make it. Relax.

"I can't," Naruto mumbled. "I see that… all that blood. So much blood from a wound that was meant for me."

Kyuubi sighed. The demon fox's head tilted, staring at the Rokudaime as if through a mirror. The boy was obviously upset; he tended to get so when he wasn't able to protect something or someone he held dear.

Look, Naruto. Kyuubi said. He got that wound protecting you. Worse things will happen. Relax.

Naruto took a deep breath and slowly let it out, sighing as he moved to sit on the couch, rubbing the back of his neck. The biju was right, after all. There would be worse things that happened to the people protecting him. Worse wounds, some that would be fatal, some that would create horrible scars on everyone's souls. Sasuke's wound was just a reminder of that. He rubbed his face and fought not to laugh. Only once he'd run out of breath did Naruto lean back on the couch and close his eyes, sighing.

"You're right, dammit."

Of course I'm right. So knock off the sappy shit and go to bed, Naruto. Kyuubi grumbled.

Naruto just sighed and closed his eyes, deciding not to argue this time. There would be plenty of time for that in the morning.

Sasuke was reading when Naruto entered his hospital room. A stack of books was on the bedside table, a smaller stack beside the larger, signaling that the brunette had already gone through them. Naruto smiled and held up his own gift in a meager apology.

"I see you've already been sufficiently distracted from me, huh?" Naruto asked, earning a soft smile from the brunette.

"I could never get distracted from you. Just put it on the pile." Sasuke dog-eared the page he'd been reading and closed his book, setting it aside to focus on the blonde. Naruto set his book on top of the pile and moved to sit beside the injured man, head canting.

"How are you feeling?"

"Sore," Sasuke said with a sigh. "Sakura has me on antibiotics and a mild painkiller. I'm not allowed to do any strenuous activities until I've scarred."

"Sakura won't heal it with chakra?"

"She tried, but the skin is fragile. It's not healed all the way, so." Sasuke shrugged. "I can't do anything that would tear the skin."

Naruto nodded. "Thus the books."

"Books." Sasuke said with a small smile. "You make them sound like a bad thing."

"Eh." Naruto shrugged and shifted to lay his head in Sasuke's lap, watching the black orbs focus on his face. Sasuke slowly began to card his fingers through Naruto's hair, smoothing the wild strands. Naruto closed his eyes to enjoy the feeling, sighing.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I'm gonna tell you something stupid, all right?"

"It can't be any more stupid than what's coming out of your mouth right now."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in a glare, reached up to hook his hand behind Sasuke's head to pull him down. Their lips brushed together and Naruto felt Sasuke jerk a little bit. Naruto pressed further, bringing their kiss into something that made Sasuke shiver and tense. Naruto pulled back only to shift his position, pushing the book beside Sasuke off the bed. When it clattered to the floor, the brunette jumped again, and Naruto took the opportunity to kiss Sasuke again, harder this time, nipping only slightly to gain entrance into the brunette's mouth.

With a soft gasp, Sasuke opened up to Naruto, allowing the blonde to plunder his mouth. Naruto pressed Sasuke back into the pillows, working to get the blanket over Sasuke's legs off, careful not to agitate the scar too much. His hand moved under Sasuke's kimono, hand traveling up to his nipples, gently tweaking them into hardened nubs. Sasuke's hands found his shoulders, forcing Naruto back.

"What?" The blonde asked, breathless.

"You didn't lock the door." Sasuke replied, his voice husky with the pleasure that was showing in his eyes.

Naruto rolled his eyes and crawled off the bed, locking the room's door before applying a trap as an incentive to stay away, returning to the brunette on the bed and getting back to where he'd been before being interrupted. Naruto pulled off Sasuke's shirt, careful not to touch the bandages wound around his stomach. Sasuke arched beautifully into his mouth when Naruto descended on his nipples, the Uchiha's nails digging into the Hokage's back. Naruto simply purred, feeling himself begin to harden. Still, he had to keep his need in check, had to keep control of himself lest he hurt his mate. Sasuke, though, didn't seem so inclined, nails scraping along Naruto's back so hard he was sure he was going to have welts. Naruto pulled back to divest himself of his jacket and shirt, leaning down then to get at the hospital-issued kimono, opening the length of cloth over Sasuke's legs, purring at the sight of his mate.

He wasn't aware Sasuke was blushing until he took hold of the brunette's erection and heard the soft gasp. The blonde only grinned, staring up at the brunette, touching his tongue to the tip and hearing again the gasp.

"You're beautiful, you know." Naruto said softly.

Sasuke huffed. "You're just saying that to get into my pants."

"Well then, it's working, because you're not wearing pants."

Naruto descended on the brunette again, licking the tip and teasing, slowly taking Sasuke's cock into his mouth. It was strange but Naruto kept at it, wanting to hear more and more of that breathy little gasp. He forced Sasuke to lay back on the pillows, to spread his legs, aware of how the brunette arched into his touches, into his mouth, aware of the smells coming from his mate.

"Mm, Sasuke?" Naruto purred, letting Sasuke slip from his mouth, watching that chest rise and fall, smiling as he saw the heels of Sasuke's hands pressed to his eyes.

"Stop teasing me!" Sasuke pleaded. "Naruto, please don't tease me!"

"Look at me." Naruto said softly, smiling into the elder man's ebony eyes when Sasuke finally pulled his hands away to follow the order. "What do you want?"

"You." Sasuke gave a soft plea.

Just kill him now! Uchiha snarled, arms wrapped tight around his chest, trembling with the mix of hate and pleasure.

Orochimaru kept his silence, watching the exchange between Naruto and Sasuke, feeling the voyeur.

"Me?" Naruto purred lowly. "How?"

Sasuke swallowed. His eyes traveled from Naruto's face southwards, and then to his own hips. His jaw worked, trying to ask, but Naruto only covered his mouth with his own, kissing him hard. Naruto's fingers ran over Sasuke's thighs, moving the touches into the inner thigh and up, teasing at the exposed pucker. He waited for Sasuke's approval before he pushed his fingers into Sasuke's body, only two, knuckle by knuckle until they were pressed as deep into the brunette as he could get them. Sasuke arched, mewling, nails scratching at the blonde's shoulders. Naruto growled playfully, drilling his fingers into his lover, spreading his digits to spread the tight muscle around them.

When Sasuke was sufficiently loosened, Naruto gently turned him onto his hands and knees, and took up position behind him. Sasuke let out a soft noise and Naruto took that as the signal to go, pressing into Sasuke's body without any preamble. Sasuke's muscles stretched to accommodate him, the blonde's cock disappearing into that willing body until his hips met Sasuke's. Then Naruto pulled out, pushed back in, repeating the process over and over, careful not to agitate Sasuke's stomach wound with his thrusts, listening to Sasuke's cries. The brunette's knuckles were turning white, and Naruto felt Sasuke's hole begin to constrict, so he began to pound harder and harder into his lover until Sasuke cried out his name –

- Sasuke cried out his name! -

- and his inner muscles constricted far too fast for Naruto to really try to hold back. He thrust once more, and joined Sasuke in orgasm, Naruto's seed filling the brunette up. Panting, sated, Naruto finally pulled back out of Sasuke, carefully rolled the brunette over and settled beside him, smiling, panting.

Sasuke snuggled up against Naruto and sighed, feeling warm as Naruto drew the blanket over them. He heard Naruto whisper three little words, and thought he whispered them back before he fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

XII.

Sasuke spent the better part of his personal time off healing. His scar, though annoying, was sealed shut as well as it could be, and while the skin still twisted and moved with each breath he took, Sakura had done her job well. He had very little pain, aside from what his two parasites caused him, and went to each check-up with Sakura, usually with Naruto at his side. She didn't say anything about the conspicuous limp Sasuke always seemed to have, though Sasuke was sure she had a good idea. Naruto had just stepped out of the examination room to discuss the possibility of Sasuke returning to active duty, leaving Sasuke to dress in private. His arm still twinged with the ghost-pain of the needle Sakura had used to draw his blood, and perhaps because of that ghost-pain, he was able to feel the pulse in his abdomen.

Even Orochimaru and Uchiha stopped fighting when Sasuke's hand went to his abdomen, pressing down on the flesh, feeling resistance as he did so. Sasuke blinked once, twice, and watched the world of colour bleed away into black and white, the plants glowing a soft pale light with their life. But it wasn't only the plants that were glowing. Sasuke himself was glowing, a softer light than the plants of course, but he was still glowing. The glow, much to his distress, was mostly concentrated on his abdomen.

Sasuke blinked a third time to return the world to normal and tried to think back to how this could have happened. Oh, he knew the mechanics, but he'd been careful. He'd been incredibly careful, since the memory-image jutsu and since being wounded. He'd carefully kept infection away from the wound, carefully kept a mental log of how much feminine chakra he allowed to mix with his own during the healing. He had thought he'd been careful enough to keep such a change from occurring. How could he have missed this for so long? Unless… Sasuke frowned and looked toward the door. At the hushed voices, he understood how he could've missed such an important change.

He was in love.

The life inside of him was a product of that love.

Sasuke shivered. Naruto would find out soon enough, as soon as Sakura ran Sasuke's blood through the machines. Once Naruto found out, Sasuke would never be able to leave the village alone. In fact, he'd probably never be able to leave the village at all, and he desperately needed to tell the only other living Uchiha he knew of about this. But the challenge was getting out of Konoha before anyone could stop him. He needed to leave as soon as possible, get a head start on Naruto because Naruto would definitely be a part of the team sent out to find him.

He could leave through the window, but that would be too suspicious. Better to leave through the door, be seen, and have a few minutes of a head start toward the gate. Maybe he could even circumvent the gate entirely. He had to pack though. Naruto wouldn't be as pissed with him if he had a pack full of food and other outdoor gear. Sasuke settled his shirt over his frame and moved for the door, easing it open and moving out into the hall, passing by several nurses and other doctors, making sure he was seen heading for the hospital's front entrance. Hopefully, most would assume he was heading for the Tower or maybe Naruto's apartment, which would be the truth. But Sasuke didn't intend to stay for long. He intended to pack and get the hell out of Konoha has fast as he could. He knew he should tell someone, but that would only lead to him being stopped. He was in the apartment and out of it in record time, hurrying for the gate. If he could just get through it, then he would be free for a short amount of time.

He couldn't stop, not now, and with more bravery than he felt, Sasuke picked up his speed until he was flying over the rooftops, a blur to those who looked, and nothing more than a shadow to those who didn't.

Naruto rubbed his forehead and tried not to snap at the nurses who told him in a not-quite flirtatious way that Sasuke had already left the hospital. Sakura had said the blood tests would take a few hours, but she'd get the results to him within the hour that they were finished. So Naruto assumed that Sasuke had left for the Tower, but since Sasuke hadn't been seen going in there, Naruto went for the apartment. But Sasuke wasn't there either. So where could the brunette be? Naruto decided to wait around for the results before panicking, thinking maybe Sasuke had been kidnapped by Kakashi for some training or by Iruka for some help on whatever project Iruka needed help on. Perhaps he'd even gone back to the Uchiha compound for a while, maybe trying to decide if the place should be torn down or if it was worth rebuilding. It wasn't until a breathless Sakura and an equally breathless messenger chuunin caught him as he was heading out to search for his wayward Uchiha that he realized Sasuke wasn't even in Konoha at all.

He'd completely ignored Sakura in favour of the messenger, telling the pink-haired woman to give him her discoveries later, hurrying to get into his ANBU uniform. Sakura wasn't far behind him, accompanied by Ino, both of whom were dressed in their uniforms. Sakura didn't tell Naruto why she'd invited herself and Ino along, but Ino just gave Naruto the meanest stare she could without actually using her special technique.

The three were out of the village by dusk, flying through the forest in an effort to catch up to their wayward nukenin, hardly stopping for anything but a few bites to eat and a few sips of water. Konoha had been set on stand-by, mostly to keep the Council from asking questions and asking for Naruto himself. Not only that, in the event that those that went out came back in a strange way, they could be disposed of quietly.

By the second day of searching, Naruto, Sakura, and Ino had switched on their radio collars, splitting up and keeping tabs on each other by reporting in every hour. Sasuke continued to remain elusive, however, and the three finally had to stop to sleep. Sakura sidled over to Naruto then, offering him a half of a cheese sandwich, before settling beside him and nibbling her own half. Ino wandered over to the other side of their camp, pretending to give them their privacy, though she certainly was listening in.

"I'm getting sick of his constant running away," Naruto grumbled.

Sakura sighed. "He did it for a reason, I'm sure."

"He couldn't tell me he was going to leave? He couldn't just leave me a note? 'Oh, Naruto, by the way, I'm going out for a while'?"

"I tried to tell you something back in the village, Naruto. You insisted on coming out here looking for him."

"What were you trying to tell me?" Naruto said with a sigh, looking at his friend, trying to school his face into a proper stoic expression.

Sakura scratched at her cheek. "The blood tests for Sasuke came back. There were low levels of HCG in his blood."

"HCG?"

"It's a hormone, Naruto." Sakura chewed on her thumbnail. "Sasuke's pregnant."

Naruto was silent for a long, long time. "What?"


	13. Chapter 13

XIII.

Sasuke eased himself down the side of the ravine, carefully shifting away stones to get at the little slip of paper tucked away in the tiny niche. The code was written in a script only an Uchiha would know, the handwriting flowing in an elegant script that Sasuke remembered – that Uchiha remembered – from a long, long time ago. The message was simple: it stated that Sasuke was to meet Itachi at an inn in the Tea Country, simply to discuss what Sasuke wanted to discuss.

Orochimaru and Uchiha were confused, Sasuke knew that much. He'd done his best to keep both of them from discovering his condition, afraid of what they would try to do to his child, and through the child, to him. However, neither had bothered to look for answers within the body, rather seeking them from the outside. Sasuke knew it was only a matter of time before they found out, and he needed to tell Itachi before problems could arise.

Sasuke pulled himself from the ravine, rolling onto the edge and away from it as slowly as he could. He wandered back to his campsite then, packing up his belongings and erasing the presence of his campsite. He moved on in a hurry then, running for the Tea Country, needing to meet with his brother before he could return to Konoha. As long as he had someone on the outside that knew the truth, he could protect his child from all sides. He crossed the border at noon, slowing his pace and carefully treading along, having changed into a disguise before he'd emerged from the woods. He had to reach the inn before dusk, or else Itachi would leave and Sasuke's search would take longer than he wanted it to.

Orochimaru settled himself to wait, trying to figure out what Sasuke was trying to do. Uchiha was ignoring them both, quiet for once, settled into meditation and ignoring what was going on around him. Orochimaru simply tapped into the body's senses, hearing what Sasuke heard and seeing what Sasuke saw. It was a trick he'd managed to perform time and time again, mostly because he had been trying to get a hand into the proverbial cookie jar to take over the body. Now, though, something was plucking at those shriveled heartstrings, and he wanted to know what.

Sasuke stepped into the inn, moving to a table in the back, settling to wait for the telltale black and red cloaks to fill the doorway, quite early. He nursed the water and soup the sleepy-eyed waitress brought him, filling his stomach more for the child growing in his abdomen than for his own nutrition. Sasuke kept his head bowed, aware that the door to the inn opened to admit two bodies. Those two bodies moved then, closer to Sasuke, until one settled in the chair opposite the young man and a finger began to tap a rhythm on the wood of the table. Sasuke looked up into red and black eyes, giving a slight nod of deference to the elder Uchiha. Itachi returned the nod and slid the kunai back into its sheath.

"You called and I'm here," Itachi said quietly, "so tell me what you need to tell me."

Sasuke took a moment to breathe, fighting the instinct to activate his Sharingan. "I'm pregnant."

Orochimaru shared Itachi's silence. While the elder Uchiha's eyes widened in shock, Orochimaru's narrowed in thought. A child of an Uchiha would provide him with exactly what he wanted. But something was holding him back now, something that made him stop and listen, knowing Uchiha was listening too.

"Are you positive?" Itachi asked his little brother. Sasuke nodded.

"Even if I'm not, the blood tests Sakura took will make me so."

"I heard you'd been captured by Konoha." Itachi whispered. "How did you convince them to let you come here?" Sasuke's lips thinned. Itachi simply nodded. "Kisame and I will silence the wagging tongues out here. You need to return to Konoha right away."

"I will." Sasuke promised. "Itachi, I–"

Itachi shook his head. "Tell me nothing more, Sasuke. Get yourself home now."

Sasuke nodded and began to rise, stopped only by the hand that fell across his. Sasuke met Itachi's eyes, blinking in confusion. Itachi asked his question silently, allowing Sasuke the opportunity to deny the question or answer it. Sasuke slowly sat back down and leaned forward a little, keeping his voice low.

"Uzumaki Naruto is my child's father."

Orochimaru shared Itachi's surprise, but it was too late to keep Uchiha from hearing the news. Orochimaru felt Uchiha turn his sight inward, at the growing child, and Orochimaru felt the malice bubbling up in Uchiha's heart. Orochimaru knew what Uchiha was thinking. How could he not, when he was thinking the same thing?

"You should get home, Sasuke." Itachi said again, rising before his brother and moving to collect his partner before leaving the younger Uchiha alone in the inn. Sasuke left a few moments later, feeling strange. He barely made it out of the Tea Country before he collapsed, trying to fight through the fever taking its toll on his body.

Orochimaru watched Uchiha closely, wondering what he would do in this time of weakness. Only Uchiha never moved, simply remaining in his meditative state. And since Uchiha did not move, neither did Orochimaru.

"Naruto! I found him!" Ino's voice crackled over the radio. "He's not doing so hot."

Naruto leapt from branch to branch, hurrying toward Ino's location as fast as he could. "Don't let him go, Ino!"

"I won't. Promise. Just hurry."

Sakura beat him to the pair, already mixing a few herbs together into a medicine, measuring enough of the powder into the canteen she carried to turn the water a gentle green colour. Ino held Sasuke's head in her lap, tilting it enough to allow Sakura to pour a few drops of the water into Sasuke's mouth. He swallowed, coughing a moment later, his eyes opening to stare at the two women. Naruto landed beside Sasuke in time to catch his wrist, grip tightening to keep the elder man from puncturing Ino's throat with his index and middle finger. His eyes were bright with the fever, but the moment he looked upon Naruto's face, he froze.

He whispered two little words and began to cry.

Naruto pulled the brunette into his arms and looked at Sakura, then Ino. The women rose and helped Naruto up with Sasuke. Sakura took the chance to check Sasuke's temperature, sighing with a little nod.

"He's all right to move. Ino and I will go ahead and get a room set up for him. I'll need to run tests and I'll prepare some medicine for him. He probably just overexerted himself, but I don't want to risk anything." Sakura pointedly looked at Sasuke's abdomen.

Naruto nodded. "Go ahead. We'll be less than a day behind at most."

"If you need us," Ino whispered, "we'll be a radio call away."

Naruto just nodded again and the two kunoichi disappeared, leaving the men alone. Naruto just held onto Sasuke and let the man cry, unable to really think of anything to say. What could he say? Really, what could he say in this situation? He slowly became aware of the silence then, of Sasuke holding tight to him, of their own synchronized breathing. Finally, the Rokudaime pulled back to hold the brunette at arm's length, tilting Sasuke's head up to force the Uchiha to look at him.

"Sasuke, why didn't you tell me?"

Sasuke blinked slowly, rubbing his eyes a little bit. "I was going to tell you when I got back. I had to tell my brother first."

"Telling Itachi was more important than telling the father of your child?" The sarcasticness of the sentence bit hard.

Sasuke winced and looked away from Naruto. "…He will keep watch on the outside."

"I could have done that!" Naruto shouted, shoving himself away from Sasuke before he hit the brunette. "What, you don't trust me to protect our child?"

"No!" Sasuke shook his head emphatically. "I –do– trust you! But, Naruto, you still haven't caught the anti-Council's dogs, you don't even know who they are! If the entire village found out, and you know they would have if I had told you then, I would've been attacked!"

"And you're not even capable of defending yourself?"

"If I use chakra now, so early in the pregnancy, at best I'd kill the baby."

Naruto froze. "And at the worst?"

Sasuke simply stared at the blonde. "At worst, both I and our child would die."


	14. Chapter 14

XIV.

Uchiha's plan was perfect. All he needed to do was leave a few orders lying around – which was simple enough to achieve when he could take control of the body's hand – and then simply bide his time. The baby wasn't formed enough yet for a successful transplant, so he had to be patient. And so he just simply set his energies to keeping tabs on the growing child and keeping Orochimaru and Sasuke from discovering his plan. The transplant had to be done at the perfect time and so it was crucial that he behave himself. Once he was safely within the body of that child, safely delivered to the world, he could accelerate the cell growth of the body and regain what he had lost. Of course, if he waited, then he could perform the perfect patricide in history.

But he wasn't that patient.

He made sure his followers made just enough skirmishes to keep things interesting, to keep everyone focused on what was an outside threat, instead of what could be an inside job. He simply watched the child grow, grinning madly as each month passed.

Orochimaru, on the other hand, had begun to think. His whole reason for seeking the Sharingan was to secure jutsu that could allow him to live forever. His whole reason for continuing to exist was to, hopefully, one day, see his parents again. He knew his only hope for another century of life was to take that child's body for himself, but could he really do that now? Could he deny this Uzumaki-Uchiha child the right to know its parents? Could he really pretend to be the child its parents love so desperately despite the fact they had no idea what it was, what it could be?

No.

He couldn't.

But he could protect it.

So he watched Uchiha, made sure whatever Uchiha did was counteracted by his own followers, fully prepared to give up this chance at a second life if only to give that precious child the chance to know its parents.

He would have to give up his chance, Orochimaru decided.

But he would make sure Uchiha lost his chance as well.

Naruto paced back and forth in the hallway, going over all the things he could've done wrong today. He'd done all his paperwork; he'd cleaned the apartment; he'd even gone grocery shopping to make sure he had enough to meet Sasuke's cravings. He'd done the laundry; he'd picked up the baby furniture. But even though he'd done all that, Sasuke had still locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said, leaning against the door. "Come out!"

"No! Go away!"

"Sasuke, come out right now, or I'm breaking down this door."

The lock on the door clicked open, but Sasuke didn't emerge. Naruto took a deep breath, counted to ten twice, and open the door to the bathroom. Sasuke stood before the sink mirror, naked, staring at his reflection in the glass. More so, he was staring at his rounded stomach, his hand on the bulge, his black eyes bright with tears.

"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned softly.

Sasuke's head turned to stare at the blonde, and he tried not to start crying again. Naruto moved forward to hug the smaller man, feeling their child protest the movement, kicking against its mother's stomach to tell the father to get away.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" Naruto asked again.

Sasuke sniffled. "I'm ugly and I'm fat and I don't know why you're putting up with me!"

God dammit. Naruto turned his head away from the mirror and frowned, resolving to murder whoever put those thoughts in his lover's head. When he had his face under control he turned back to Sasuke and tilted his head up, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"You're not ugly; you're the most beautiful creature to ever walk the planet. You're not fat; you're pregnant. And I put up with you because I love you." Naruto carefully wiped away Sasuke's tears, kissing a few away as well, working to get the smaller brunette to smile. "I love you, Uchiha Sasuke."

"I love you, too, Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke whispered.

Naruto nuzzled his lover's throat, smiling as he pulled the brunette from the bathroom, leading him toward the bedroom. Sasuke began to protest just like Naruto thought he would, but Naruto wouldn't let him slip away this time. The blonde settled his lover onto the bed, settling between his legs and taking hold of the brunette's cock and stroking it to life.

"Sasuke," Naruto began softly, "I don't care what you look like. I don't care that you haven't been able to see your own feet for the past month. I don't care that you cry because there's no hot peppers on your ice cream. I don't care that you wake me up in the middle of the night because you're freezing. I don't care because I love you."

Naruto descended on Sasuke's cock, sucking the hardened shaft, listening to the brunette mewl and moan as he felt Naruto's tongue swirling around his cock, teasing until Sasuke was so hard all he could do was submit to the Hokage's ministrations.  
Naruto, of course, wasn't content with just giving his mate head, getting Sasuke to crawl back onto the bed while Naruto pulled off his own clothes, moving to get the vial of fluid he used for lube before he settled on the bed beside Sasuke.  
"Naruto, I don't know about this." Sasuke whispered as Naruto rolled him onto his side.

"I'm sure about it. Just relax, love, and let me do everything okay?"

Before Sasuke could protest, Naruto's cooled fingers pressed into him, moving deep into his body to stretch him for something much larger, and all Sasuke could do was cling to the pillows and sheets and try not to cry out too loudly. Naruto wasn't making things any easier for him, his hand moving in a perfect rhythm in and out of Sasuke, his mouth whispering dirty little things into his ear, making sure Sasuke couldn't protest. Sasuke was left empty for a few moments, his leg soon lifted up as Naruto pressed his cock against his lover's passage and pressed in.

The coupling was slow and leisurely, the dirty things the Hokage muttered changing to loving endearments. Naruto kissed Sasuke's shoulder and throat as he thrust into him, careful to keep the movement slow and gentle, mostly so he wouldn't hurt mother or child. It wasn't long before Sasuke's muscles tightened around Naruto, the blonde's hand covered in hot, sticky white. Naruto hissed as he was squeezed, filling his lover with his seed. Naruto sighed happily and pulled out of his lover, reaching for a cloth to clean them both up, tossing the rag into the hamper before reaching for a small box, letting Sasuke roll onto his back to sit up.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, rolling onto his knees, leaning to kiss his lover before settling back, offering the box to the brunette with a gentle smile. Sasuke took it and ran his fingers over the velvet, blinking as he opened the box to stare at what lay within.

"Sasuke," Naruto asked softly, "will you marry me?"

The brunette stared at the silver ring in the box and fought not to cry. He picked up the ring and dropped the box onto the bedcovers, rolling the cool metal over and over in his fingers. He heard Naruto ask again and then a third time. On the fourth, nervously asked and just a little strained, Sasuke looked up at Naruto.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke's lips trembled. "Yes, Naruto. Yes."

Naruto's look of apprehension vanished as he took that silver band and slipped it on Sasuke's ring finger, kissing that ring, then his mate. Sasuke did his best not to cry when Naruto moved to make love to him again, and held tight to that ring around his finger when they reached their completion together.


	15. Chapter 15

XV.

Uchiha's eyes settled on that new life within that chakra womb, fighting to keep his glee to himself. That child was almost ready, almost ready to be born. It was time, yes, now was the time. He just had to take control of the hand and leave the missive. Uchiha wasn't aware of Orochimaru's own counter, and had Orochimaru not been prepared, Uchiha would have succeeded. As it was, Konoha's jounin were ready for the combined forces of Uchiha's soldiers and Orochimaru's soldiers. As the fighting began in full outside, a different kind of fight began within, and Sasuke collapsed on the floor of his home, a fever raging on in full as Orochimaru launched his attack against Uchiha.

Sasuke fought to get to his feet, dragging himself out of the apartment, fighting for every step he took as his body grew hotter and hotter. His vision swam, but still he pressed on, hearing the metallic clang of weaponry crashing together. He heard the screams of the dying, the yells of victory, and fought to make his way toward the Hokage's Tower. His index and middle fingers crooked to make snake's fangs, a meager defense but a deadly one. He only had time to use it once. The Sound kunoichi gurgled as she died, but her partner was already in position. He fell upon the pregnant man, his sword plunging through Sasuke's chest. Screaming in pain, Sasuke whirled enough to force his attacker to withdraw the blade, to fall back. Sasuke pressed his hand to the wound, feeling the hot blood pulse out against his palm. He fell to his knees, feeling pain in his chest and his abdomen. His fever raged hotter, and Sasuke knew he was dying.

Somehow, he fell on his side and fought just to breathe, watching his attacker fall to the deadly grip of the Kyuubi.

Naruto was by Sasuke's side in a flash, wasting no time in getting the Uchiha up into his arms, running for the hospital, trusting the other jounin to take care of the remaining members of Orochimaru's group. He was barely within the emergency room's door when he screamed for Sakura, taking a step and nearly slipping in the blood and fluids that suddenly stained his clothes, Sasuke's clothes, and the floor.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted when the pink haired woman appeared with her team and a stretcher. "Sakura, you have to help him!"

"I will!" Sakura yelled back. "Get him on the stretcher, Naruto, and let me do my job!"

Somehow, Naruto let Sasuke go, let the medic nin take his mate from him, watching them disappear into the operating room. He knew he should follow, but he couldn't make himself move in that direction. Instead, he turned and left the hospital, and let the rage of the Kyuubi fill the streets of Konohagakure.

Orochimaru's hands locked around Uchiha's wrist, pulling at the same time the younger man was trying to push down, trying to crush his windpipe. Uchiha was snarling, wanting to end this as soon as he could simply because both could feel the pains of the birthing and the pains of death. Orochimaru's only goal was to keep Uchiha from getting within the child's body, and if he died in the endeavor, so be it. He only needed to keep Uchiha distracted a little while longer. Orochimaru tucked his legs between him and Uchiha and kicked out, his feet connecting with Uchiha's chest. The brunette let out a gasp as ribs cracked, launching himself backwards to avoid Orochimaru's next attack. The snake-eyed man rolled to his feet and charged Uchiha, leaping up into the air at the last minute to come down on the smaller man's shoulders, hoping to break something with his weight.

Uchiha rolled forward at the last second, dodging Orochimaru's attack and whirling to perform one of his own, throwing punches to maneuver his enemy into the position that he wanted him in. When Orochimaru was centered, Uchiha launched into his jutsu, rushing for the snake-eyed man when his jutsu was active. Uchiha launched into his attack, finding Orochimaru ready for him. Most of his attacks were blocked, only a few landing with enough force to actually cause some damage. Orochimaru's hands twisted in several seals before shooting out to Uchiha's face, the sheer closeness of the chakra burning the brunette's eyes.

"I won't let you touch that baby," Orochimaru snarled.

Uchiha rolled to his feet, shaking his head to clear his eyes of the spots. He glared at the elder man, mouth splitting into a shark-like grin. "You don't have a choice, old man."

Uchiha launched into another attack, fighting to get toward his freedom.

Orochimaru was there to stop him every step of the way. The older man was at a disadvantage in that he refused to attempt any real jutsu, working simply to tire Uchiha out. He needed to tire him out if he wanted to win, needed to make sure the brunette wasn't able to defend himself against any attack Orochimaru might throw at him.

Both were suddenly thrown off their feet as pain rocked through the void, the echoes of a scream vibrating their bones. Orochimaru spared a glance up to the mirrored sky, seeing the shadowed faces of people moving at a frenzied pace. He looked back just in time to see Uchiha right in his face. He dodged back to avoid the punch, spun to the left and lashed out with his leg, catching Uchiha in the chest and cracking his ribs even more. Uchiha hit the ground hard and rolled, avoiding the next attack that Orochimaru came at him with.

Uchiha got to his feet and launched into a series of punches and kicks, most of which were blocked. But Orochimaru wasn't without his own tricks; each punch and kick that landed on his body was returned with interest, both he and Uchiha sporting broken bones and bloodied noses, bloodied lips and cuts all over their exposed flesh. Still, neither would give up, each wanting something so desperately they were willing to die for it.

Well, Orochimaru was willing to die.

Pain rocked through the void again and Orochimaru took the opportunity to perform a quick jutsu, sharpening his nails. He had to wait for the right moment or it would never work at all. He kept fighting Uchiha, forcing the younger man to block or take another wound, working them both into a frenzy of motion. The pain on the outside began to move faster through the void, making Uchiha's movements sharp and quick, both knowing that the awaited time was drawing near. Uchiha feinted around Orochimaru when the pain made a crescendo, rushing to get away, to escape the void.

Orochimaru was there waiting for him, his butcher knife-sharp nails catching Uchiha around the throat. Nails pricked skin, sunk deep, and blood bubbled up around Orochimaru's fingers as he squeezed tighter and tighter.

"I won't let you ruin their lives anymore." Orochimaru whispered, twitching his arm enough to allow his venom to pump into the younger's blood stream. "It's over."

"You don't understand!" Uchiha gasped, struggling against Orochimaru's deadly grip. "I have to get out! You could come with me! We'd finally be rid of Konoha!"

"You didn't understand then, and you don't understand now. Just die."

Orochimaru squeezed with every bit of strength he could, emptying his venom into Uchiha, cutting off his air at the same time. The younger man struggled, struggled in vain, as he struggled to breathe, struggled to stay alive. But Uchiha's vision began to darken, began to tunnel, and his blood began to grow sluggish and cold. He reached up with his last bit of strength and wrapped his fingers around Orochimaru's right eye. His arm fell limp as Uchiha breathed his last, but Orochimaru didn't release his hold even as his eye was torn from its socket. He simply sank with the body, leaning over the younger man as he wrapped his fingers around the brunette's trachea and pulled.

Flesh ripped as Orochimaru's knife-sharp fingers tore through skin that hadn't been cut, the muscles cording out as they began to rip as well until the whole thing came free.

Orochimaru stood up then, looking up into the pain filled void, covered in blood. He smiled though, and closed his remaining eye, holding up his bloodied hand as though the trachea resting there would be enough of an offering to save the life of the young man who was screaming in pain. Orochimaru closed his fingers around the trachea in his hand and brought it to his mouth, biting onto the tube as he worked his aching hands through his final jutsu.

As Sasuke's pain reached its highest peak, Orochimaru and Uchiha became nothing but a whisper of chakra in the void, their energies intertwining with Orochimaru's jutsu as it spread into Sasuke's blood.


	16. Chapter 16

XVI.

"He's losing too much blood!"

"Hurry! Get me those gauze wraps!"

"Move it! Get those bandages now!"

"Get the baby out now! I need to concentrate!"

Naruto listened to the shouts of the medic nin, staring at Sasuke through the glass. His chest was covered in blood, his legs were covered in blood, and everything that was Sasuke was covered in blood. Naruto's nails scraped on the glass, fighting to keep his temper in check. She was doing the best she could, after all. Sakura was barking orders, her gloved hands covered in blood – Sasuke's blood – as she fought so hard to sew up the chest wound that was bleeding far too quickly for her to stop and fought to get their child delivered before any complications could arise. The blonde was covered in blood himself, chest still heaving from the hours of merciless murder he'd inflicted on the streets. Of course, the fighting was over now, bodies being cleaned up and blood being washed from the buildings and streets. Most of the jounin that had fought with him had pulled rank on him and forced the Rokudaime to go to the hospital to wait for Sasuke.

Now it just seemed Naruto was waiting for their child.

Sasuke had stopped screaming only minutes ago, chest heaving for air as his blood began to stop flowing, instead just trickling as Sakura and several others pumped healing jutsus into his body, forcing the brunette to stay conscious and stay awake. Someone tugged at his wrist and Naruto let himself be dragged away from that window to the bathroom, allowed to wash and change his clothes.

When he returned to the window, Sasuke wasn't in any better shape than he had been when Naruto had left to wash. Sakura was still barking orders, doctors and nurses were still running here and there, fetching towels and bins and blood packets, bandages and gauze and thread, everyone moving as fast as they could to save the life of the man on that table. Naruto pressed his forehead against the class and winced as Sasuke screamed again, his sounds drowned out by Sakura's commands to push.

There was just far too much blood.

A baby's wail echoed in the room, and two nurses took the bloody child from Sakura so she could focus on Sasuke's wound, and it took all of Naruto's will power to keep from rushing into that room to take his child from those unfamiliar hands. But he had to let them work. He was here only to observe right now and he couldn't afford to cause a scene that would distract the medics from their work. He had to wait for them to come get him, and he'd gotten good at waiting.

Sasuke was in pain. He felt cold and he couldn't get warm, and he couldn't tell Sakura that he was so cold because he couldn't get his voice to work. Pain ripped through his body and all he could do was scream. He knew he was dying. There was no other way to explain the pain. Sasuke fought not to writhe as he felt needles slide into his skin, as he felt hands on his thighs, spreading his legs open. He fought not to panic, screaming as flesh parted to a knife's blade, as hands reached into his bulging stomach to remove his child. He saw Sakura, heard her screaming but he couldn't understand her. He was too cold, far too cold.

Sasuke heard his child crying and tried to move to see the babe, tried to get a good look at the child that would be his legacy but found he couldn't move. Everything he heard and saw was simply a murmur combined with blurry images, familiar faces appearing and disappearing in his line of sight. He turned his gaze to the window then and smiled as what he saw there warmed his soul.

Snowflakes, simple little snowflakes, danced outside the tiny window in the operating room, slowly drifting down to the ground outside. Sasuke watched the rare event with a smile, thinking to reach for a little flake, hoping to catch one. His hand fell short though, and a warmer larger hand caught his, holding it tight. Sasuke rolled his eyes to look up at a familiar face, unnatural sapphire blue eyes staring into his own, bright with tears.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed.

"Sasuke," Naruto replied, his voice choked with tears. "Look, Sasuke, our son."

Sasuke inched his head a little bit to stare at the tiny face so close to his own, the babe's sapphire blue eyes staring at his mother. Sasuke reached to stroke the child's face but his arm refused to cooperate.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, getting the brunette's attention again. "Sasuke, you have to live, okay? You have to live so we can raise our baby together."

Sasuke swallowed, tried to lift his hand to point out the window. "Naruto… look. Snow. Haku… Haku's blessing us."

Naruto turned slightly, looking at the window and then looking back at Sasuke. "Yeah, snow. You wanna go out and see it, right? You're gonna have to get up."

Sasuke simply shook his head and looked once more at their son, finally commanding his hand to stroke the baby's cheeks. "Haku."

Naruto nodded, holding their son close to his chest. "All right, we can name him that. But you have to live so you can help me raise him."

Sasuke frowned, listening to the mumbling coming from Naruto's mouth. He couldn't understand his lover, feeling sleepy. He felt Sakura at his other side and tried to look at her, tried to tell her he wanted to sit up. But he couldn't get his mouth to work, couldn't get his tongue to form the words he wanted to say. She was crying, her hands glowing softly as she performed healing jutsu after healing jutsu until the glow just stopped. Sasuke looked back at Naruto, watching him cry as well. He couldn't hear what Naruto was saying though, and just tried to smile. He tried to reach for his son.

"I want to hold him." Sasuke said, but no one heard him. He wasn't even sure if his voice was working anymore.

But he wanted to hold his son. He wanted to hold Haku before–

"Sasuke? SASUKE?! SASUKEEEE?!"


	17. Chapter 17

Epilogue.

Naruto awoke to the sound of small feet pattering on the wood and carefully rolled out of bed after the two-year old. It was only five in the morning, the sun barely risen above the trees. Naruto found the toddler pressed against the sliding glass door, trying his damndest to reach the handle. Naruto swooped in and picked the toddler up, hushing him before the child's squeals could get too loud.

"What're you doing, Haku?" Naruto asked his son, smiling as he settled the boy on his hip.

"Sunrise." The toddler giggled. "Gonna catch."

"Oh, you're gonna catch the sun, huh? And what are you going to do when you catch the sun, hm?"

"I dunno."

Naruto's lips twitched into a smile as he pulled the door open, stepping out onto the porch with his son. Two years. Had it really gone by so fast? Two years since this little child had been born to grace Konoha with his presence. Already he was growing so fast, speaking here and there and already starting to become a pain in the backsides of his assorted aunts and uncles and self-appointed babysitters. The child had a habit of waking up far too early for a kid his age, and every time he did, he wanted to see the sunrise.

It was the routine. It was something Naruto enjoyed.

The child was yawning before the sunlight had even touched his face, but Naruto stayed out to get the full view of the sunrise before he turned to his son, kissing the boy's nose.

"So, Haku, do you wanna go wake up Mommy?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I wanna see Mommy!"

Naruto laughed and brought the child inside, carefully setting him down on the hardwood. "You have to be quiet okay? Mommy's still sleeping."

"Quiet. Promise."

Haku carefully lifted one foot and set it down before he lifted the other, creeping along in a pseudo-tiptoe, always looking back at his father to make sure he had the man's approval before continuing on. The pair tiptoed down the hallway and Naruto slid the bedroom door open and allowed his son to creep within.

Naruto smiled at the lump curled up under the blankets, leaning against the doorframe as Haku crept closer to the bed and planted his feet. He crouched down, wiggled his butt just a bit, and leapt as high as he could to land hard on his mother. The boy squealed as the lump rolled, pale hands tickling the child's sides. Naruto joined his wife and son on the bed then, rescuing the boy from his mother. Sasuke rolled onto his back, stretching as he pushed the blankets off his body and sitting up, taking Haku from his father, hugging the boy as Naruto wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulders.

"Good morning, Mommy," Naruto said as he kissed Sasuke's cheek.

"Good morning, Daddy," Sasuke replied, leaning into the affection.

"Morning!" Haku shouted, dissolving into giggles as his mother began to tickle him again. The toddler squirmed out of the brunette's hold and rolled onto the blankets between his parents, crawling to the edge of the bed, sliding down to open a window. "Look, we caught the sun!"

Sasuke smiled. "So you did. Haku, why don't you find some breakfast, hm? Let me and Daddy have some time alone."

"Why?"

Naruto just grinned. "So I can kiss Mommy."

The toddler's face screwed up as Naruto started to kiss Sasuke's lips. Haku gave a little yowl of a noise that sounded something like "Gross!" and fled the room before Naruto could really get started. Sasuke sighed and lay back on the bed, closing his eyes and let Naruto stroke his forehead.

"Are you happy, Sasuke?"

Black eyes blinked open to stare into sapphire. "Of course I'm happy. Aren't you?"

Naruto just smiled, stroking his lover's forehead and drifting his fingers through Sasuke's hair. "I still wake up sometimes afraid you won't be here."

"Worrying that much will give you premature grey." Sasuke said softly. Naruto just stared at the brunette for a while. "Naruto, I love you. Nothing will keep me from being by your side."

"Promise?"

"Swear it."

Naruto sighed and leaned over Sasuke, pressing gentle kisses to his cheeks and lips. "I love you too, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke shook his head and returned a few of the kisses. "Uzumaki Sasuke."

"Well, then, Uzumaki Sasuke, let's go save the kitchen from our son."


End file.
